StarFox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet
by Foxyfellow
Summary: A lighthearted and gently romantic take on the SFA storyline, trying to make it a much fuller tale. Contains mild to strong language and violence, frequent nudity, and mild to moderate innuendo. Also features same-sex relationships. Please R&R.
1. Prologue

_Author's Note: This fic stems from two things. One - my nagging sense that StarFox Adventures, brilliant as it is, isn't the game it could have been, particularly given the time spent on it; two – little things about the game that make me wonder if the developers hadn't had more ambitious plans for it originally. Thus I now let my twisted mind loose on the basic plot, to see how it would have written the tale. Enjoy!_

**_P_**_**lease note - this story contains frequent nudity, mild to moderate, occasionally strong, violence, mild to moderate language, with the occasional burst of strong, and mild to moderate innuendo and sensuality. It also contains same-sex relationships, so if that offends or unsettles you in any way do everyone, especially yourself, a favour, and hit the 'back' button now.**_

_All things StarFox are © Nintendo, and used with affection and no intent to make money. Honest. Credit must go to Alex Warlorn of DeviantArt for helping inspire one of the major plot aspects.  
_

**Prologue**

Rain. Rain was her world right now. No matter where she looked it filled her vision, glistening curtains of water that disappeared into the night. It robbed her of place, it robbed her of direction; it even seemed to rob her of time. Even when she closed her eyes it was all she knew, pattering rhythmically on head and back, seeping into her fur, weighing down her meagre clothes. Even now, so far on, she couldn't escape it.

Deep-set melancholy tinged cerulean-blue eyes as they scanned the crying skies for any hint they were heading in the right direction. Finding none, they gazed down at the Cloudrunner she sat astride once more, her only distraction from the rain. He appeared oblivious to it, a silent purpose to his strong, regular wing beats and the unwavering gaze from narrowed eyes. She envied him, wished she too could shut it all out so easily, so that she wouldn't have to remember. It had rained that day, too.

One paw lifted from the Cloudrunner's neck to smooth back a clump of fur that had slipped over one eye, then check that the staff remained firmly fixed to her back. Losing it now would mean losing it forever. She'd lost more than enough already. Her eyes squeezed closed, a single tear joining the rain already saturating her cheek fur. Why did everything take her back?

A sharp cry from the Cloudrunner shattered her reverie. Blue eyes snapped open to see a gaping and horned dinosaur head of impossible proportions rearing from the gloom ahead of them. As a thick neck came slowly into view she realised this unsettling apparition was made of a dull grey metal she couldn't recognise. Her already large eyes expanded in blank disbelief when the immense beast proved to be the figurehead of a gigantic ship; a sailing ship.

Soon the whole thing was in view, a galleon with but a single mast gliding through the storm-swept night sky. An iron-clad prow jutting forward under the figurehead, a row of horned skulls pinned along the length of the ship, unidentifiable wooden constructions clinging to its sides, and an angular, ungainly body shape all combined to form an ugly nightmare of a vessel. Even as icy fear started tickling down her spine, though, curiosity got the better of her.

"Scejoh!" she called to the Cloudrunner, none of her alarm showing in her clear voice.

The winged dinosaur obliged, flying to meet the ship as it slid nearer, apparently equally curious. That imposing figurehead loomed over them both, seeming to bellow defiance at the elements. She blinked rain from her eyes, then looked up. Two burning orbs looked right back, set into the grey face of the metallic carving, its head twisted round and down to hover inches from hers. A deep, rusty roar blasted stale air at her, almost blowing her from the Cloudrunner's back. Determined hands and legs held fast until the bellow subsided, then she straightened back up. A resolutely rigid and lifeless figurehead was all she saw on glancing over her shoulder.

The Cloudrunner flew higher, to perch on the ship's rail, gazing silently about himself. Now she could see the deck, and that it was utterly deserted. Boxes littered the slick planks, all marked with a familiar serpentine swirl of an insignia. Confusion furrowed her brow as she fought to make sense of it all. So much here seemed wrong…

"Nuak xoho," she murmured, sliding from the dinosaur's back and dropping gracefully to the deck. "A navv ro hawxk rusb."

The Cloudrunner's only reply was a short, crow-like caw as it folded its leathery wings. Her heart thumping in her chest, she stole across the glistening wood, heading for a door at the rear of the ship. Why that felt like the place to go she didn't know, but something pulled her towards it. Caution remained to the fore, though, as evidenced by her careful, creeping pace, and her fully erect ears. She listened carefully at the door for some moments before opening it.

She padded noiselessly down and round a sloping u-shaped passage, and stepped cautiously into what had to be the ship's hold. Dozens more boxes crowded into the four corners of the room, leaving feet of space around a strange metallic box sitting in the dead centre. On top of that lay a simple key. It was so out of place, so strange a thing to find there, she could only conclude it wasn't meant to be. Darting over to the box she snatched up the key, and only then realised what might occur as a result.

Internal alarm bells ringing loud she sprinted from the hold and back on deck. As she noticed with shock the Cloudrunner had vanished double doors set in the face of the forecastle crashed open and a quartet of leather-armoured Sharpclaws barrelled forth, a forceful rush of green, scaly bulk and guttural cries.

A single panic-stricken possibility occurring to her she scrambled across the drenched wood, fighting to keep her footing, then gripped the rail and flung herself over it.

Harsh screams of rage echoed in her ears as darkness rushed up to meet her…


	2. Making an Entrance

**Chapter 1**

**Making an Entrance**

"Slippy, do you _have_ to have that music _quite_ so loud?" Peppy Hare asked, trying his hardest to make his tone sound as un-whine-like as possible and resist the temptation to stuff some of his pencils and pens into his ears.

"But it helps me think!" the toad protested, the more grating side of his frequently childlike personality coming to the fore and his puberty-defying voice jumping up almost an entire octave.

Peppy span his chair round and stared meaningfully at Slippy, arms crossed. The young toad, leaning against a colourful jukebox that was visibly vibrating in tune with the raucous rock guitar track it was playing, just gave an aggrieved sniff and made a show of twisting his cap backwards on his broad head. It was strange how, even though he wasn't really all that old, only a few minutes of that aggravating amphibian's company made him feel positively archaic. Glancing briefly at the back of the chair in the middle of the room he shook his grizzled grey head and sighed. No option, then.

A moment later the chair smoothly revolved, revealing the laid-back, unshakeably good-humoured, and gently bopping form of their nominal leader, Fox McCloud.

"All right, Slip-up," he commanded, with notable patience, and even a little warmth. "Drop it down a notch."

"Oh, OK…OK…" Slippy acquiesced, grudgingly, hitting the jukebox with one green fist and devoting equal glaring time to both his companions. The guitar jerked to an ungainly halt.

"Thank you." Fox nodded his appreciation, despite looking just a tad put out. He tapped a few more keys on the small terminal mounted on an adjustable rest attached to his chair arm, nodded again, then pushed it aside and leaned forward. "Remind me to remove that tune from the selections, Pep; in here, at least."

"It would be my pleasure!" the hare grinned, the large amount of father in him making itself known. Fox inspired it as unfailingly as Slippy did frustration. No matter how often he said it, to himself or to Fox, it still rang true – James McCloud would have been proud, not least of his mediation skills.

"Incoming transmission from General Pepper," ROB the robot reported, from his station at the Great Fox's main control bank.

"Punch him up." Fox turned his chair to face the holo-communicator.

"I know we're not on the best of terms, Fox," the hound commented, as an image of his lugubrious face flickered into three-dimensional being, "but I'm not entirely convinced that's called for."

Fox chuckled and straightened up a little. "How can we help, General?"

"I have a mission for you," Pepper answered, in the same tone of voice as a game show host telling a contestant they'd won the star prize.

"Which is?" Fox prompted, ears beginning to prick up.

"Very well paid," Pepper assured him.

"I'm listening." Fox rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands, ears now at full alert.

"We've been getting reports of serious trouble on a planet quite near you. Dinosaur Planet, in fact," Pepper explained.

"Imaginative name," Fox observed, grinning across at Peppy.

"It was meant to be temporary," the hare protested. "To be changed when I thought of a better one."

"Go easy on him, Fox," Pepper advised. "He's only had a year's thinking time."

"As official Cornerian cartographer I like to take time over my work," Peppy sniffed. "Can't be letting mistakes creep in."

"As a method it certainly seems to work," Fox acknowledged, with a smile. He focused his attention back on the holo-communicator. "Now, General – serious trouble?"

"Seems the planet has split apart," Pepper told him, his head vanishing to make way for an image of the world in question. "Four massive chunks tore from it and are now orbiting it. No-one has a solid clue why, but most of our experts believe the power-hungry leader of a particularly vicious and thuggish dinosaur tribe that's recently started trying to take the place over just might have something to do with it."

"I see." Fox rolled his eyes. "So you want us to see what's what, and then stop it?"

"Indeed," the General confirmed, his head supplanting the damaged Dinosaur Planet. "And as a matter of some urgency. We are concerned that he may soon pose a threat to more than just one planet. As I have said, you will be handsomely paid for your efforts. Do you accept?"

A glance at his two friends, then Fox nodded once. "We're on our way."

"Setting course for Dinosaur Planet," ROB intoned, metallic fingers working the panels with the utmost efficiency. "Estimate arrival in twelve hours."

"Overnight. Time enough to warm up," Fox jumped to his feet and started for the doors, spinning his blaster round one finger.

"One more thing, Fox," Pepper boomed, stopping the vulpine in his tracks. "You can't take your blaster with you. Or any gun for that matter."

"WHAT?!" Fox yelped, spinning round, suddenly much less enamoured of his upcoming task. He strode back to the holo-communicator, pushing his furious face to within an inch of Pepper's nose. "I am intending to come back alive, Pepper!"

The General didn't even blink. "We can't risk frightening the friendly tribes any more than they already are. Your trigger-happy style would not exactly help. I have faith in your resourcefulness, McCloud. Report once you reach the planet's surface. Pepper, out."

For a moment Fox looked ready to explode, remaining by the holo-communicator after the General's image had faded, his fists clenching, his face strained.

"Damn it," he spat. "Why'd he have to pull that one on me?" He let out a deep sigh. "That's made things twice as hard as they needed to be." He sighed again, softer this time, finally relaxing enough to think clearly. He lightly threw his blaster onto his chair. "No need for target practice, then. Slippy, check the Arwing's still flyable, and if the showers can be fixed while you're at it. Peppy, pack as much data into my wristcomp as you can. I'm gonna go prepare, then rest."

"Aye, Sir," toad and hare chorused, managing to wrest a grin from Fox as he strode out of the cockpit.

Two hours of strenuous practice and eight hours of not entirely comfortable sleep later, Fox McCloud stirred. Running entirely on autopilot he shrugged off the sheets, levered himself out of bed and onto his feet, and trailed into his small bathroom, leaving his boxers in his wake. It was only when his shower refused point-blank to disgorge any water that he, with a long-suffering groan, started to properly wake up.

"Damn," he sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Must remember to land near a nice, quiet, secluded pool. Don't want to scare the dinosaurs, after all."

Stretching a little more life into his arms he padded out of the bathroom and dug out some fresh shorts. As he slipped them on, almost tripping over his own feet in the process, he caught sight of the only luxury he allowed himself – his drum kit.

Deep wine red in colour, composed of one bass, three toms, one snare, one hi-hat, and two cymbals, it had been the very last present Fox had received from his father. James had even paid for 'FOX' to be emblazoned in suitably garish lettering across the front of the bass drum. The kit's potent emotional resonance for the young McCloud, and the simple fact that playing it never failed to relax him, had ensured it a spot aboard the Great Fox.

"Should I?" he wondered aloud, scratching behind one ear. "Ah, what the hell. I've got time enough."

Rubbing his hands together he jogged over to the kit and perched himself on the stool behind it. A moment's thought, rubbing behind the same ear with one of the drumsticks, then he set up a gentle and fairly straightforward pattern with just the smallest tom and the snare. One by one the other toms, the bass, the cymbals and finally the hi-hat became involved, Fox working smoothly through his favoured warm-up routine. By the time he came to the climatic roll of all the drums and cymbals, ending with a flourish on the hi-hat, he was much livelier, grinning from ear to ear, his tail flicking around energetically behind him.

"A little improv, I think," he decided, completely in his element, "then breakfast."

"ROB to Fox."

"Or maybe not." He put the drumsticks down on the largest tom. "What is it?"

"Approaching Dinosaur Planet. Orbit in ten minutes."

"Ten?!" Fox glanced at his clock. "Not like you to be so far from the mark, ROB. That's almost an hour early."

"Twelve hours was an estimate," ROB answered, stoically. Either Fox was hearing things or the robot actually sounded a touch aggrieved.

"I come back alive, the first thing we do with the money is get you serviced," Fox promised, making a dash round his drums.

"Thank you. ROB out."

McCloud, a pack on his back, stood chewing on the cold bacon sandwich that had to serve as breakfast and gazing at his arwing as Slippy made last-last-minute checks of all systems. He now wore his sleeveless flight suit, pale grass green with a broad and slightly darker stripe down front, back and along the inside of the legs, yellow banding along the sides, and a broad red collar. Over that was his equally arm-free white jacket. Heavy boots, fingerless gloves and the ever-present wrist-computer topped off the standard Fox McCloud outfit.

"Second thing to do should I survive," he muttered to himself. "Get decent food." He swallowed the last of the snack, then lifted his voice. "How is she?"

"Holding together," Slippy called back. "Just."

"Down to duct tape and staples, are we?" Fox chuckled.

"Just about," the toad answered, dead serious. "We only have so many bolts."

"Third thing – get more bolts." Fox had a sinking feeling his list wasn't likely to end all that soon.

"Okay – she's all yours." Slippy flashed him a genial thumbs up as he jogged past. "Take care!"

"Don't I always?" Fox asked, watching him leave. "On second thoughts, don't answer that."

He ran lightly across to his arwing, tapping a button on his wrist computer. The steps slid out, he sprang up them and over the side of the craft into the cockpit.

"Fox 1, ready to leave," he reported, once his helmet was securely in place and the cockpit sealed.

"Opening bay doors," ROB transmitted back. "Fuel cells and your zoom goggles will be transported directly to the planet's surface. Landing point is Thorntail Hollow. ROB out."

"Received and understood," Fox confirmed, igniting the arwing's engines. "Talk to you then. Fox out."

"Good luck," Peppy's voice murmured in his headset as the Great Fox disappeared behind him and Dinosaur Planet filled his view.

"Thanks," Fox answered, then terminated the com-link. "I'll need it."

He checked his map and his course one last time then began running over the information Peppy had loaded into his wrist computer. It gave a fleeting overview of the terrain and brief details of the eight tribes he could expect to run into at one time or another. It seemed the hare knew little more of the place than he did.

"Okay," he mumbled to himself, trying to get it all fixed in his mind. "Earthwalkers – big, slow, friendly. Thorntails – not so big, slow, friendly. Lightfoot – small, tribal, suspicious. Cloudrunners – winged, snooty, friendly if you catch 'em in the right mood. Snowhorn – very big, furry, friendly. Hightops – redefine 'big', not hugely bright, but friendly. Redeyes – death on legs, give very wide berth. Sharpclaws – the bad guys, General Scales their too-big-for-his-scaly-boots leader. Straightforward enough."

And yet it still took him most of the trip to the planet's surface to get it all clear in his mind. The rest of the time was taken up in checking his personal files (mostly music) were still present and correct. That was what led to him noticing a note left by Peppy.

"'If she knocks, answer'." Fox chuckled softly. "He never gives up." His ears shot up and his eyes snapped wide as a thought hit him. "Why say that _now_…?"

Another scan through the data Peppy had provided gave only one hint – a reference in an observation document to a small, unmarked ship recorded heading down through Dinosaur Planet's atmosphere. Strangely, it had apparently been dismissed as unimportant.

"What aren't you telling me, old friend?" he wondered, now deeply curious. "Who is she?"

Several possibilities surfaced in his active mind over the last minutes of the descent, but none of them seemed terribly likely. What kind of girl would willingly fly into what amounted to a war zone? One that wore a bullet chain for a necklace? That didn't sound too attractive…

His mulling came to an end as his chosen landing site hove into view. As confident and capable as he was Fox still gave his full attention to the task of landing the arwing in the southwest corner of Thorntail Hollow. Struts extending smoothly, it came to a rest on a grassy platform that could almost have been made for the purpose.

Once the cockpit was fully open McCloud ditched his helmet and vaulted gymnastically out, landing at a crouch alongside the craft. Stretching out before him was gently rolling open land, coated in rich green grass almost as fine as his own fur, walled in by sheer shelves of dark grey rock, and split neatly in two by a broad curve of glistening, crystal clear water. Beyond the river a massive semi-circular stretch of ornate stone wall stood, dwarfed only by the snow-capped mountains reaching for the sky in the distance behind them. A waterfall poured musically through a yawning, v-shaped gap in the wall to the northwest, ceaselessly feeding the river. Beyond that a gargantuan stone statue brooded, almost twice the height of the walls and broad as a tree canopy. Bulky, short-legged, blunt-tailed and olive-scaled dinosaurs were dotted about almost as commonly as the clumps of broad blue flowers, the verdant palm-like trees, and squat grey boulders. Atop the ridge hemming the Hollow in imposing evergreens clustered thickly, a swathe of dense forest cloaking the higher lands.

Fox whistled. "Not bad! Not bad at all. Maybe I should retire here. Once I've cobbled it back together, of course." He brought his miniature holo-communicator from his jacket pocket and lobbed it lightly out in front of him. It hovered neatly in place. "Pepper."

The General's head bloomed into shape above it. "Made it then, Fox?"

"No, he's scattered across space. This is his identical twin brother," Fox riposted, before he could stop himself.

To his surprise, Pepper let out a hearty laugh. "Good one, Fox! Glad to see your sense of humour's still intact. You'll need it."

"I'm not reassured. What's first, General?"

"Find the Queen Earthwalker. She should be somewhere nearby. She'll be able to fill you in on a lot of what's going on here. I hope."

"You ho…" Fox rolled his eyes. "Oh, this keeps getting better and better. I take it she's not likely to speak Cornerian?"

"You take it right," Pepper confirmed, not entirely grammatically. "Slippy's devising a translation program as we speak. He'll transmit it to you as soon as it's done."

"Any idea how long it'll take?"

"Twenty minutes at most. He hopes. Remember – use the holocom to talk to Slippy, Peppy and myself whenever you need. We'll endeavour to help as much as we can. In the meantime, take a look around. Get to know your battleground. Hello – that rhymed!"

"Yeah, yeah. Very funny, General. Fox out." His eyes already fixed on the river he pocketed the holocom. "At least I have time to get the dust out of my fur."

Halfway to the inviting waters a glint caught the corner of his right eye. Fox turned, to see it again – the sunlight winking on the surface of something lying in a dirt patch surrounded by fruit-laden trees. Curiosity thoroughly piqued he jogged towards it, his face filling with surprise and just a little wonderment at what revealed itself.

The staff was simply beautiful – six feet long, plated with gleaming gold, decorated with intricate, swirling patterns in deep, rich blue, a sharp, foot-long pincer-like blade at one end holding a brightly glowing sky blue crystal, and a second clasped in a golden oval at the other. It looked powerful, and on picking it up, he found it felt powerful too. It was wonderfully weighted, and he couldn't resist slicing the air with it, deftly attacking the flowers and trees immediately around him, his movements as quick, fluid and effortless as a dancer. His confidence was picking up drastically.

She leaned round the tree trunk, gazing intently down into the Hollow and the trees right below her vantage point. Her tail twitched in irritation as she watched the stranger take her staff, and worse, prove he was just as adept in its simplest use as she was. Getting it back was going to prove a challenge…

Fox's ear twitched. Footsteps were pounding up behind him. He spun round to find a leather-clad, snarling brute of a green bipedal dinosaur striding toward him, swinging a hefty mace.

"Sharpclaw, I presume," Fox grinned, with a hammy bow. "Allow me to introduce you to pain."

"Qalo jkuvv!" came the rasping reply, accompanied by a vicious swipe of the mace.

Fox dodged, slamming the staff across the dinosaur's back, then his blunt head, and finally kicked him square in the gut. Six feet of bruising lizard thug hit the deck roaring. The Sharpclaw hauled himself upright just in time to see the staff heading for his face again. After that it paid pain-inducing visits to his chest, his stomach, his chest again, then finally his reeling head once more, leaving the dino sprawled across the grass for a second time. With one last roar the Sharpclaw disappeared in a shimmer of blue-white light, Fox watching in wide-eyed bewilderment.

"O…k…" He blinked. "That gives cowardice a whole new level. Best watch my furry behind from now on. But first, to wash it."

He swung the staff round and behind him, slotting it neatly through the straps of his pack at an angle. His eyes widened again as it shrank in the space of a heartbeat, so that only the gems at the ends protruded from either side of the pack.

"Neat!" Fox's grin widened several notches as he resumed his path to the water's edge.

"Not good," she muttered, almost glaring at the staff clamped to his back. "Not good at all. It _likes_ him. Wait a minute…" Her head tilted to one side as she mused for a moment. "Maybe that is a good thing. Maybe…it's a _very_ good thing."

Her interest in the light-furred stranger increasing markedly, she waited patiently for her opportunity.

Fox stopped right at the edge of the river bank, staring into the gently rippling waters he found so tempting. What gave him cause to pause, though, was the Thorntails. The one directly opposite him, quietly grazing the grass, looked up, and gave what seemed like a smile.

"We uxout," it called over. "No fhemajo dek ke ceeb."

It then turned its back and moved lazily away, still cropping the grass.

Fox's indecision quickly faded. "Ah, what the hell. I've got time enough." He shrugged his pack from his shoulders.

"Oh, I don't believe it…" She rubbed her eyes, then looked again. "He can't be making it _that_ easy…"

Her gaze flicked between the staff – still attached to the pack and resting atop the stranger's clothes – and the fox himself, now standing out in the middle of the river washing.

"All he needs is a brush!" she chuckled, shaking her head. "He'll be humming to himself next!"

She crept forward and lowered herself over the lip of the ridge, dropping neatly onto the platform below, moving now with more reason than just reclaiming her property. This newcomer had promise.

"I hope he doesn't embarrass easily," she murmured to herself, creeping steadily nearer to him.

"Ahhh…" Fox McCloud sighed, in deep contentment. He reclined on the gently-sloping riverbank, submerged in the warm, softly-lapping water up to his neck, his arms pillowing his head, his eyes closed. "This…is bliss. Take your time, Slip-up. Take your time."

"Wakey, wakey!" a melodic female voice sang, as something hard and metallic tapped his forehead twice.

"Whuh?" Fox responded, intelligently. "Whoa…" he added, leaning his head right back and regarding his visitor with open surprise. "Pretty," was his first comment on the smiling vixen presently sitting cross-legged a couple of feet from him.

For a few seconds he had trouble registering her as real. Fox rolled onto his chest, keeping low to the bank the whole time, assuring himself he wasn't hallucinating. Liquid, sea blue eyes that hinted at a sharp intelligence stared in gentle amusement at him from the midst of a face that blended the delicate and the strong with truly beguiling results. Most of it was a soft white-with-the-slightest-hint-of-blue that seemed purpose designed to highlight its shape.

At the outside of cheeks, forehead and those arresting eyes, the fur darkened to the richest, fullest blue imaginable. Most of the rest of her slender, yet not overly thin, form was that same eye-catching shade, lightening to the near-white on the inside of her large ears, the tip of her active tail, the front of her neck, her chest, and a streak down the centre of her belly.

He was able to note all of this as her clothing was about as minimal as could be, just a simple gold bikini top with a white strap, white bikini bottoms, white loincloths front and back held together by clasps on both hips, and sandals. Modesty was apparently not a concern. The final touch came from a sprinkling of jewellery: a gold necklace with an emerald set in it, a headband attached to the fur between her ears, from which a gold-framed ruby hung down over her forehead on the apex of a chain of glittering discs, and elaborately etched armbands.

"Pretty," he repeated, aware even as he said it how painfully inadequate the word was.

"And there was I hoping for intelligent life," she chuckled, laying the staff by her side.

"I do have a brain," he assured her, a little sheepishly. "It just tends to vacate the premises when confronted with a lady as lovely as you. Blue is definitely your colour."

A hint of coyness drifted across her face for an instant. "Thank you. And, thank you for finding my staff."

"I…must confess returning it wasn't uppermost in my options list," Fox told her, his mild discomfort manifesting itself in the way he rubbed the back of his head with one hand. "It would have come in very handy while I'm here."

"Oh." She barely reacted. "Better you than a Sharpclaw. Who _are_ you, by the way?"

"My manners are appalling today," Fox groaned, mentally chastising himself. "Improperly dressed _and_ lax in introducing myself. I'm Fox. Fox McCloud."

"Krystal." She bowed her head slightly, and with practised elegance. Mischief filtered into her gaze. "And your 'dress' is fine by me."

"I'm not sure how to take that," Fox replied, smiling, swiftly warming to her company.

"As a compliment," she insisted, smiling back. "Russet-gold is definitely _your_ colour."

"_Barely five minutes, and we're already flirting,"_ Fox realised, surprised, but not showing it. _"Peppy, I don't know whether to kill you or to kiss you."_ He spoke up. "Thank _you_. You obviously don't embarrass easily, Krystal."

"About as easily as you do, Fox," she chuckled. "It still might be an idea to keep your back turned when you decide to come out of there, though. You never know how the dinosaurs might react."

"By screaming 'I've gone blind!' I expect." He lightly rubbed behind his ears again. "I can't help thinking bringing a towel would have been a good idea."

"The sun should dry you off quickly enough," Krystal assured him.

"Depends how close I sit to her," he answered, turning over once more and sliding backwards out of the water, ensuring his tail was curled over his lap. When he looked up again, her face was only a few inches away.

"Close enough?" the vixen asked, playfully.

"Just about," Fox answered, folding his arms loosely atop his tail. "And it's certainly good company."

"You seem to have a storehouse of those lines," Krystal laughed. "Been practising?"

"I had a very good teacher," Fox replied. "Although, he never meant what he said."

By now Krystal's smile was almost as bright as the sun Fox had compared her to, a dazzling sight indeed. Without any warning she shifted to sit right up against him and rested her head on his shoulder, gazing brightly up at him.

Fox had to stop himself rubbing his head yet again. "This would be the ideal time for…"

"Fox! It's Slippy. I've got the translator ready." The triumphant amphibian paused, his holographic head looking a touch concerned. "Fox? Are you all right?"

"Right on cue," Fox groaned to his companion from the side of his mouth, visibly cringing. He spoke directly to the toad head hovering before him. "I'm fine, Slip. Just a little stiffness I'm trying to get rid of. I should have removed that pack while in the arwing."

"Oh." Slippy blinked. "Anyway, I'm transferring the translator program to your wristcomp as we speak. It should only take a few minutes."

"Good, good."

"Fox, are you _sure_ you're all right?"

"I'm _fine_. Perfectly a-okay. Just glad this damn thing only scans yer head." The last sentence was again directed at a murmur from the side of his muzzle, towards the beautiful blue vixen presently killing herself with hysterical laughter. "I'll start searching out the Queen Earthwalker the moment the transfer's over."

"Okay. Oh – gotta go. Peppy just fell out of his chair. Wonder why he's laughing so hard? Slippy out."

The moment the holocom image had fully disappeared, Fox joined Krystal in howling with laughter, unwittingly leaning his head against hers in the process. When they eventually recovered neither seemed hugely inclined to move.

"Ah, good old helium-voice Slippy," Fox chuckled. "He who makes naiveté an art form."

"He's in orbit, I take it?" Krystal guessed, her eyes rolling up and to the side to meet his gaze. "Along with this Peppy?"

"Yep. They're my backup crew. Much more competent than they might have seemed, I have to say."

"I also take it you're here to see what you can do to help?" Krystal continued.

Fox nodded, not feeling it wise to mention the part about him getting paid handsomely to do it just yet. "Call me soft-hearted."

Krystal laughed again, a sound he was really getting to like. "All right, Soft-hearted. I need to grab something to eat a moment, which should give time enough for that 'stiffness' to fade and for you to get dressed. Then, we get you a weapon."

"A weapon?" Fox queried, but the vixen was already up and padding away from him, her staff held loosely in the fingers of one blue hand. He shrugged, content to wait, and starting patting his fur to see if it was dry enough yet.

Krystal, meanwhile, had to physically stop herself skipping to the nearest fruit-bearing tree, such was her mood. If this guy was a mercenary, as she strongly suspected, he was in severe danger of giving the breed a good name. His particularly gentle Cornerian accent, his courteous manner, his ready wit, and his apparent conscience were all traits that generally added up to a short lifespan in that career line.

She glanced across at his craft, observing just how battered, bruised and worn it was. If a merc Fox McCloud was he wasn't one who saw many jobs, and those he did probably paid peanuts. A flick of her wrist and her staff cracked across a trunk, shaking a trio of nuts from its branches. She collected them up then broke one open, chewing voraciously on it, all the while wondering about her handsome, russet-gold companion. Could she truly trust him? Could he be the strong ally she so sorely needed, and was apparently destined to have?

"I'll know soon enough," she told herself, starting back towards him, the nuts in her arms and her staff pinned to her back by her bikini strap.

Fox, now fully dressed again, greeted her reappearance with a broad smile. "Those look tasty," he remarked, eyes fixed a little lower than her head. Too late he realised his faux pas. "Um…I mean…eh-heh…the _nuts_ look tasty…heh-heh-heh… Now would be a very good time for you to swallow me up, ground."

"I've heard worse," Krystal assured him, amused. "These are dumbledang pods. Have you space in your bag for them?"

"I think so." Fox knelt down by the pack and opened it. "Although they do look quite a handful. I mean…I'm never gonna pull my foot out of my mouth, am I?"

Krystal handed him the nuts, trying hard not to laugh at his verbal slip-ups and his sudden inability to look her in the face. "Forget it. I don't offend easily, either."

Fox closed his pack up and hefted it onto his back, then finally forced himself to gaze right at the vixen. "Forgotten. Now, what was it you were saying about a weapon?"

Krystal grinned. "There's a second staff."


	3. Destiny Can Hurt

**Chapter 2**

**Destiny Can Hurt**

The fiery-scaled Cloudrunner forged doggedly through the ceaseless storm, its flanks slick with rain and two drenched vulpine figures clinging to its narrow back. Only one looked at all comfortable.

"You don't have to hold on _quite_ so tightly, you know." Krystal smiled over her shoulder at Fox. "I would like to be able to breathe."

"Oh, uh…" Fox loosened his grip, so his arms were simply draped around her waist, rather than crushing it in a fear-fuelled death grip. He flashed a sheepish, almost meek, smile. "Sorry."

"Don't tell me you're afraid of heights?" Krystal asked, wide-eyed, a chuckle in her voice. Maybe Fox was imagining things, but did he hear a touch of warmth in there, too?

"No, not heights; more the ground you're liable to hit should you fall from a height," Fox answered, staring stoically at the back of her head, she being by far the best distraction from their surroundings, or lack of them, available. "Especially when I can't even see it."

The vixen's chuckles grew more pronounced. Her tail curling up to lightly tickle the underside of her companion's chin she adopted a suitably patronising tone. "Don't worry your pretty little head about it. We're almost there, and I'll ask our friend here to install seatbelts for the return journey."

"Yes… You do that…" was the distant reply.

Krystal looked over her shoulder to see that, to her great amusement, Fox McCloud's waterlogged face had dissolved into dreamy delight. "Must take a note of that," she told herself, with a sly grin. "Could come in useful!"

"Krazoa Palace," the Cloudrunner abruptly reported, affecting an efficient landing on a raised stone platform that ran with rainwater.

"Hey – Mushy-brain!" Krystal reached behind her to nudge Fox in the side. "We're here!"

"Huh? Wha…?" Fox blinked rain from his eyes, then stared up in blank awe at the immense and ornate building standing before them. "Where _is_ here?"

"Krazoa Palace," the Cloudrunner repeated, just a hint of irritation in his rough voice. "Most sacred place of all the dinosaur tribes. Home of Krazoa Spirits."

"Oh." Fox nodded once, sliding from the dinosaur's back, still gazing at the edifice in front of them.

It was in essence an oblong of gigantic proportions, fashioned from pale stone and dark plate metal, of all combinations. The latter highlighted the numerous turrets atop the building, the pillars spaced unevenly along the façade, and even the platform they'd landed on. Incredible half-arches towering fully as high as the palace were entirely made of the heavy metal. The whole thing looked like a cross between a temple and an industrial plant.

A polite cough distracted his attention. He turned to the Cloudrunner just in time to see Krystal leap from its back and straight for him. Not even remotely prepared Fox only half caught the blue vixen, the impact robbing him of all balance. He toppled backwards onto the cold, wet stone, Krystal sprawling on top of him. She moved with startling speed and agility to sit astride his waist, her hands resting on his chest, and grinned hugely at him.

"Why, Fox McCloud!" she cooed, mischief in her eyes. "Are you falling for me?"

Fox rolled his eyes, and then burst into soft laughter himself. "I must admit, I'm certainly te…_watch out_!"

A gigantic, floating, luminous, jellyfish-like creature was spinning in their direction, its numerous barbed tentacles swirling out at their tips in a circle some ten feet or more across. Fox, denuded of his usual confidence-inspiring arsenal of weaponry, felt perfectly justified in slipping into minor panic mode.

"Why oh why did I ever let Pepper talk me into not bringing my blaster?" he babbled, simultaneously wondering why Krystal hadn't got off him. The blue vixen just grinned at him again, turned round to sit on him facing the ponderous creature, pulled her staff from her back, and aimed it casually at the gyrating giant.

"What are y…" his question stalled and his jaw dropped as the oval end of the staff opened out, the gleaming jewel still held in the middle. A pulse of blue light fired out of the gem, hitting the glowing jellyfish square in its bulbous head. It was promptly swallowed by a familiar shimmer of pale blue light.

"Wraith. Big, but about as tough as a newborn," Krystal explained, neatly sliding the staff back under her bikini strap whilst getting to her feet. "One bolt and they're gone. You okay?"

"How…the _hell_…did you do that?" Fox gaped, wide eyes still firmly fixed on the staff.

"Magic!" Krystal answered, succinctly. "Now, do you intend to lie there until all your fur gets washed off, or is getting a staff all of your own an option?"

"When it can do that, _hell_ yes!" Fox told her, leaping to his feet. "Lead on, O Scintillating One."

"Scintillating?" Krystal smiled, head cocked to one side, hands on hips, tail in playful motion. "Never been called that before…"

"Now that surprises me more than the staff did," Fox told the vixen, gallantly. "Does unutterable beauty run in the family, or are you a sparkling one-off?"

Krystal's beguiling smile abruptly shattered, sobs welling up in her throat as she turned from him, breaking into a run. Fox bit back a curse and followed her, catching up to her just before she reached the huge double doors set in the flank of the Palace. He pulled her firmly into his arms, getting no resistance at all. Gently he coaxed her through the doors and into a small, bare entrance chamber, then into sitting with him against the wall. Her head resting on his shoulder, he settled patiently down to wait for her tears to fade.

It took a lot less time than he'd expected for Krystal to regain control of her emotions. She straightened up, taking a few deep breaths and wiping the moisture from her eyes, staring resolutely dead ahead all the while. Fox kept quiet, busying himself in studying the two sets of double doors across the small chamber from them. One pair bore the stylised image of a mask, a bizarre, drawn-out visage with a broad, circular headdress, hollow eyes, and the longest, thinnest chin he'd ever set eyes on. The others displayed two crossed staffs, one blue, and one red.

"Two staffs," he breathed. "Two of them."

"Ready and waiting," Krystal added, in a murmur, the spark back in her eyes. "It seems the Krazoa believed, and still believe, that two people would find use for those weapons during a time of great darkness. Two destined heroes." She chuckled, resting a hand on Fox's shoulder. "Us."

"Us?" Fox didn't look convinced. "Why so sure of that?"

"Call it female's instinct," Krystal grinned. "Or just wishful thinking."

Fox let out a soft laugh, shaking his head. "Very wishful, I think. A hero I am not; especially not a destined one."

"I can tell you're going to take a little convincing," Krystal observed, dryly, getting elegantly to her sandal-shod feet and moving toward the staff doors. "Luckily I enjoy a challenge! Now follow me, O Great Warrior. Destiny awaits! Oh – and one more thing…" She span around, walked back to Fox, dropped into a crouch, and kissed him, softly, on the cheek. "Thank you."

"No trouble," Fox assured her, looking a touch dazed. "Always willing to help a kindred spirit."

Krystal's eyes widened. "You mean you've…?"

"Yes," Fox confirmed, matter-of-factly. "Several years back. I've learned to live with it."

"Suddenly my faith in the Krazoa has doubled." Krystal straightened up again, refocusing her attention on the doors. "You coming or would you prefer to sit there and vegetate?"

"No contest!" Fox leapt to his feet. "I never was a fan of vegetables."

As they pushed through the staff doors and strode along the short corridor beyond, somehow his curious eyes always returned to the vixen by his side. This didn't go unnoticed by his companion.

"Normally I'd take umbrage at being stared at so intently," Krystal told him, mock-seriously. "But in your case I'm willing to let you live."

"Hey, it could be worse," Fox told her, holding the door at the end of the passage open for her. "If I were Falco and presented with a view like that, I'd be foaming at the mouth – or in his case, beak – right about now."

Krystal giggled, nodding elegant thanks as she swayed past. "Then I'm glad you're not him, whoever he is. Right now I need someone who can focus. Focus enough to survive _that_."

Fox looked where she was pointing, and all the bravado he'd built up on the short journey drained right out of him. Directly in front of them were two foot-square floor-set pressure switches, the kind that needed a person's weight pressing down on them to be operated. Just beyond them were two broad arches, both blocked by shimmering, translucent force fields – one red, one blue. Further on, past the arches, lay twin immensely long water-filled pits, separated by a foot-thick sheet of plate metal that extended from floor to ceiling. Thin pillars picked a precarious path across the pits, flat tops jutting about a foot out of the clear water, the pattern of one route mirrored by the other. In several places jets of flame roared from nozzles set in the outer walls at completely irregular intervals, always scorching the very summit of a pillar. Right at the far end, beyond portcullises as solidly built as the hull of a capital ship, he could just glimpse a room that looked to be near identical to the one they stood in.

His initial response to the sight he bit back, mindful of his present company, settling instead for the deeply inadequate "Oh."

"Press the switch, you have precisely one minute to make it across the pit before the portcullis closes again," Krystal explained. "Fall into the water – which, by the way, isn't at a high enough level for you to simply swim across and jump out at the far end – you have to paddle back here, climb up the ladder and out, reset the switch, and try again. Get scorched by the flames, you're either scarred for life, or dead. Care for a race?"

"You've done this?" Fox asked, surveying the scene with a kind of numb disbelief. "You've survived this little assault course from Hell?"

"And got the spoils to prove it." Krystal tapped the end of the staff that protruded above her shoulder. "Well? You game, or are you gonna chicken out?"

"Bu-kawk!" clucked Fox. "Time to head back to the coop." He stepped smartly up to the red switch. "But first, I have my wounded male pride to salvage."

"Knew I could rely on you!" Krystal beamed, moving up to the blue switch. "Ready? 3…2…1…GO!"

Fox stamped on the switch, sprinted through the corresponding arch, and leapt for the first pillar. The leg that cushioned his landing provided the momentum to spring him forward onto the next platform. He bounced athletically from one pillar to the next, noting how they were spaced almost perfectly for his stride, even managing to whip past the first flame jet seconds before it roared into life, its heat caressing his tail tip. After that his progress slowed down considerably, each of the remaining jets requiring sharp timing to evade. The last one was so tight he had to jump even as the fire was fading, and feel it blast back across the pillar a heartbeat after he'd leapt clear. Finally his feet touched down on the far side of the pit, to find the jerking, staccato portcullis already two thirds closed. He flung himself to the floor and rolled forward, spinning underneath the gate with about an inch to spare.

Panting and gasping he propped himself up on one elbow and directed his gaze across to the other side of the room. An equally exhausted yet jubilantly-grinning Krystal stared right back at him.

"Nice bit of exercise, that," he commented, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible. "Loosened the limbs up beautifully."

"That's why they're almost falling off, is it?" Krystal jibed, dragging herself upright. "Tape 'em back on and claim your prize, soldier."

"Prize?" That single word was enough to jolt the energy back into Fox, as surely as if he'd been plugged into a battery pack. He hauled himself to his feet and took in the new room, quickly noting the differences between it and its almost-mirror image on the far side of the water. No switches, for one. Two perfectly identical metallic pedestals, for another. The latter were perfectly square and topped off by matching stonework masks with niches for mouths. The left-hand slot was vacant, but the right-hand one held the…_third_ most beautiful thing Fox had ever set eyes on, a staff that was identical to Krystal's in every detail save one – deep red decoration in place of deep blue.

"Oh, yes!" Fox strode over to it, rubbing his hands together in gleeful anticipation. "Now we're talking!" He'd taken the stave into his paws and given it a few experimental twirls before he thought to add, "By the way, what's that plaque on the pedestal say?"

"Put simply, 'If you not destined for staff, you get fried like chicken'," Krystal told him, with a wicked grin.

"Yi!" Fox dropped the stave like it had stung him with the force of a thousand wasps, then approximately two seconds later realised that if he hadn't been destined for it he'd already be a twitching, gibbering wreck. He sighed, shook his head, chuckled wryly at his own idiocy, then neatly scooped the staff up while succinctly expressing what he currently thought himself to be. "Ee-awwww!"

"Pardon?" Krystal looked at him askance, wondering if his link to sanity was even more tenuous than she'd first suspected.

"Well, I seem to be developing a real talent for making an ass of myself lately," Fox explained, straight-faced, "so I thought I might as well go the whole horse…er…hog."

"Great!" Krystal rolled her eyes, laughing all the while. "They've paired me off with a wannabe comedian. Still, at least life won't be boring. Now quit clowning around and follow me – you have a power to collect."

"The 'firing-out-wraith-disabling-energy-bolts' power, I hope," Fox opined, following smartly in her wake.

"Nice guess!" Krystal teased, jogging into a narrow, curving, sloping passage that led down from the east side of the small chamber. "Maybe there's hope for you yet!"

"Oddly enough, I do possess some brainpower," Fox told her, managing to sound suitably put out.

"It just doesn't function when faced with so much eye-candy, right?" Krystal finished for him, with a wicked grin. "Guess I'll have to start wearing a cloak from now on!"

"Don't feel you have to change your garb on my acc…" The sentence faded, muffled by the metaphorical foot now jammed down his throat for the third time that day. "I'll shut up now. Just pretend I'm not here."

Krystal couldn't resist. It was just too tempting. "I wonder," she mused, ostensibly to herself, but loud enough for Fox to hear every word, "how he'd react if he knew I don't sleep in this get-up?"

Fox tried biting it back, tried forcing it down, but in the absence of any duct tape or nails his muzzle opened and the question came out, despite the answer being painfully obvious. "What _do_ you sleep in?"

The grin that was splitting a certain blue vixen's snout would have made an imp quail. "Nothing."

"Oh." Fox found he was nowhere near as uncomfortable with the image as he'd expected. Curious. A new chamber opening up before them, he decided to turn the tables. "Nights must get warm around here."

"Yes," Krystal confirmed, coming to a halt just inside the new room, her bemusement at her supposed killer gag's miserable failure evident in her voice. "They do."

"Well," Fox went on, standing in perfect position to watch her face, "in that case, maybe I'll follow your example some time."

"Ew!" Krystal stuck out her tongue. "Please don't. You'll put me off my supper."

Fox was certain he could actually hear his punctured ego deflating, with a sound like Slippy breaking wind. Trying not to look _too_ dejected he surveyed the new chamber. It was fairly large, domed, carved out of the living rock, and largely filled by another clear pool, this time circular with a round platform right in the centre. A dozen tiny green crystals ringed the pool, winking in the mobile light cast by numerous sconce-held brands spaced around the curved wall. At the very apex of the ceiling a thick, truncated stalactite of stone hung down, pointing at the small platform.

"This," Krystal informed him, "is a Power Chamber. Don't ask – I didn't name it. That stalactite somehow imbues your staff with a new ability. Those green crystals are, believe it or not, made of pure magic. They basically provide fuel for the staff's powers. Lesson over – go get the first power." After a glance at his mildly downbeat expression she flashed a smile and added "try not to look too heroic while doing it. I'm still trying to get the last image out of my head."

Fox's spirits returned with a vengeance. Giving her the cheesiest heroic grin he could manage he backed up slightly then took an athletic running jump onto the platform. He raised his staff in one hand, lifting it over his head until it lined up with the broad end of the stalactite, and struck a bold pose. A second later, when a blindingly bright bolt of lightning fired out of the inverted stony spire, striking the stave at a point a hair to the left of his fingers, he all but jumped out of his furry skin. A brief period of crackling and humming energy then the elemental fireworks ceased as abruptly as they'd started.

Dropping his arm back to his side Fox studiously ignored the peals of laughter ringing from across the water and scanned the circular room for something to test the new ability on. He soon spotted the small, bright red target affixed on the wall, just above a square panel set in it. Equally quickly, he found the two buttons cunningly concealed amongst the staff's decoration. One opened up the oval end, exposing the jewel. The second fired the energy bolt. Naturally, he hit the target dead on first time. It turned a luminous shade of green and the panel beneath slid noisily aside. Another energetic jump later he was crouching in front of the newly revealed cubby-hole. He pulled out of it a small, brown, string-tied bag. He turned to Krystal, holding it up.

"Scarab bag," she stated, simply. "Scarabs are the main currency here. I didn't take it as I have nowhere to put it."

"Fair enough." Fox slipped it into his backpack. "Where now?"

"Back to the staff chamber. We have a door to open."

"Lead on."

Once back through the serpentine passage, Krystal led him to the back of the staff chamber and a single, broad door. Set into the wall either side were matching locking mechanisms, one red, and one blue.

"Simply insert staff and pull downwards," Krystal explained, slotting the blade end in. Fox followed suit. "After 3…"

"1…2…3!" they chanted together, then snapped their staffs down in perfect unison. A click, a whirr, and the door slid open.

No less than six burly sharpclaws, bristling with clubs, axes and shields, waited right behind it. Two pairs of vulpine ears wilted.

"Ah, _crap_…"

The sharpclaws charged in a snarling, weapon-waving body, leaving the two foxes barely any time to dodge, and very effectively separating them. Three of the dinos then converged on Fox, and three on Krystal. The vulpine duo might have been in serious trouble except that, for some utterly unfathomable reason, the sharpclaws took it in turns to attack. One flailed hopefully at a furry body with blade or wood while his fellows egged him on with an impressive repertoire of throaty grunts, all the while impatiently waiting on shifting feet for their chance.

It didn't take much for Fox and Krystal to despatch their first respective opponents, but although the vixen nimbly sidestepped the charge of her second assailant, an out-of-practice Fox got a hard green head square in the stomach. The impact sent him crunching up against the pedestal he'd taken his staff from. His well-honed reflexes then finally kicked in, saving him from quite literally losing his own head. The dino's mightily-swung axe hit the metal plinth with a clang that almost shook his armour off. Before he'd even stopped vibrating Fox's barrage of hits saw him fade into the blue.

Meanwhile, another poised Krystal sidestep saw a sharpclaw head-butt the other pedestal, knocking himself completely senseless. The vixen elegantly backed away from her final opponent, soon coming into contact with none other than Fox McCloud, who was also affecting a tactical retreat, still winded from his meeting with a sharpclaw skull.

The remaining two reptiles were initially quite hesitant, having seen their fellows so easily defeated, thus giving the two vulpines enough time to work on a few tactics. The moment one made for them McCloud braced himself against a pedestal, facing away from the dino, linked hands cupped in front of him. Krystal sprinted right for him, and used him as a springboard to somersault right over the plinth and the dumbfounded sharpclaw. As she landed she twisted round and swept her staff at thick lizard legs, leaving the reptile to topple heavily over, braining himself on the pedestal's mask in the process.

Before his body shimmered from view she used it to leap onto the pedestal, feet planted either side of the thin mask, and watched as Fox smacked the remaining sharpclaw upside the head a few times. McCloud guided the dazed dino toward her, allowing her the pleasure of administering the final blow, straight between swimming lizard eyes. She then thanked him for his gentlemanly behaviour by leaping at him with arms wide and a whoop of delight. He caught her expertly and swung her round himself a few times, just as caught up in the delirium of success as she was. Even once he'd set her down they continued to grin idiotically at one another, the adrenaline as unwilling to subside as their arms were to let go of each other.

"You," Fox proclaimed, "are something else! That jump was incredible!"

"Couldn't have done it alone," Krystal beamed back. "We make quite a team, huh?"

"Definitely!" Fox agreed, cheerfully. "Combine you with your beauty, speed, wit, brains and agility, and me with my perfectly foot-sized mouth and we have a truly unbeatable combination!"

"A merc with modesty," Krystal chuckled, slipping away from him and padding into the broad passage the sharpclaws had been blocking. "Who'da thunk it?"

"Well, I was never one for blowing my own…wait a minute…" Fox scrambled after her, startled his 'secret' had been so easily sussed out. "How on Lylat did you know? Am I that transparent?"

"Like glass," Krystal grinned. "You might as well have 'merc' stamped across your forehead. How much are you getting paid?"

"Not sure, exactly," Fox answered, a little guiltily, convinced her estimation of him was due for a major nosedive. "Although, I do know the figure has a lot of zeroes on the end."

"Good. You're worth it."

Fox's jaw fell open, a position it was becoming increasingly accustomed to around Krystal. Before he could ask her if she really, truly, honestly meant what she'd just said, or if she was merely teasing him again, she put a finger to his mouth and gestured into the gargantuan room they now stood on the threshold of.

A wide walkway, flanked by three towering pillars and one long water-filled channel on either side, led to a thirty-foot square of broad tiles right in the middle of the chamber. The path was mirrored beyond the central space, but there didn't seem to be a door at the end of it. A funnel of pale yellow-white painted on the tiles linked the lip of the walkway to a sphere of the same pastel colour in the middle of the chamber and neatly drew the eye to what floated, bathed in its own ethereal glow, directly above it.

A disembodied head of shining blue. A bizarre, drawn-out visage with sunken eyes and a broad, circular headdress. A Krazoa Spirit.

This was its shrine.

For once in his eventful life, Fox McCloud was at a complete and total loss. In the end he simply elected to follow Krystal's lead, hoping the cerulean-hued vixen knew a little more of these entities than he did. Side-by-side they walked right up to the Spirit, whereupon it started to speak, even though its gaping mouth didn't move at all. Its voice was soft, breathy, and mesmerising.

"We are the Krazoa Spirits," it whispered. "We are the bringers of life to this planet, and the guardians of magic. We were hidden by the Earthwalkers when the sharpclaws attacked, secreted in Shrines scattered across the whole of the world. We now need to be returned to the Palace so we can help restore balance. Whoever passes my test will become the vessel to carry me back to the Palace. Are either of you willing to take the test?"

Fox hesitated. Krystal didn't.

"I'm willing," she told the spirit, apparently completely unfazed by it.

The Krazoa cut off Fox's protestations. "Very well. The test is of observation. Three times I will hide in a basket. Three times they will shuffle positions. Three times you must find where I am. Succeed, and I will let you carry me to the Palace. Your friend must not help you or even try to help you, or you will fail. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly."

"Then it begins."

Fox moved to lean against a pillar, far enough away so as not to interfere, but close enough to intervene should something go wrong. He watched as the Spirit faded from view and half a dozen very large wicker baskets materialised in a circle around Krystal. The Krazoa appeared above one to her left, hovered there for a moment, then sank into it. Fox deliberately refrained from tracking the spirit's basket as it slid noiselessly around and across the tiled floor, swapping places with empty duplicates several times, Krystal standing calmly in the middle of it all, not willing to risk even accidentally assisting her. The way she confidently stepped up to and tapped the correct vessel, triggering the reappearance and relocation of the Krazoa, strongly suggested she didn't need it.

Something really didn't sit right about all this, Fox thought, as the basket ballet began again, this time markedly faster. This particular shrine wasn't exactly well-hidden, or even well-protected, unless you counted the six sharpclaws. Even that, though, didn't really fit. They weren't supposed to know where _any_ of the Krazoa spirits were, so how come they were seemingly locked in with this one? Maybe the test had proved too tricky for the General and his minions, and they'd taken a little time out to think about it, while leaving a few knuckleheaded guards behind just in case. The sight of Krystal again locating the correct basket without any hesitation gave him ample reason to doubt that.

A much more logical possibility then occurred to him. Perhaps the General had decided to leave this shrine to last, precisely because it was so easily dealt with, stationing some muscle inside to stop anyone else making off with the spirit first. That certainly fit with his knowledge of the average villain mind, the average villain mind not being the sharpest of tools in his experience. But then, Scales wasn't an average villain, else how could he have wreaked so much havoc so quickly and effectively, particularly with such limited resources?

"The test is complete," the Krozoa abruptly announced, derailing his thought train for the moment. "The test has been passed. You may become the vessel."

As Fox straightened up and started towards Krystal, the spirit rushed straight for her, slamming into her slim body so hard and so fast she flew backwards like she'd been hit by a sharpclaw club. Fox's yelp of shock and surprise died on his lips, for the vixen didn't hit the floor, instead coming to a floating, bobbing halt some three feet off the tiles, arms spread wide, glowing as brightly as the Krazoa had been. The radiance quickly faded and the vixen drifted to the ground, settling on her feet as gently as a feather. Fox ran up to her.

"Are you all right?" he asked, urgently, gripping her shoulder.

"I'm fine," Krystal assured him, turning her head to reveal eyes that had gained a highly unsettling purple sheen. "Absolutely fine."

Fox took an involuntary step backwards, gripping his staff just that little bit tighter, his gaze wary, his body tensed. Krystal just grinned and patted him on the cheek.

"Don't start freaking out on me now. I'm still the same vixen, just with a passenger that likes to make itself known. A passenger I wouldn't mind getting rid of; quickly."

Fox relaxed a little. "Sorry. That was the merc in me reacting. It's a little paranoid at times, but it's kept me in one piece so far. Plus you have to admit that was just a little bizarre. You have any idea where in the Palace we need to take this Krazoa?"

"Some. Those doors in the entrance hall should be a good starting point. Shall we?"

Fox nodded, and the two vulpines broke into a steady jog, exiting the Shrine and returning to the staff room, to find the twin pits had been covered over by sheets of plate metal, much to their relief. Once back in the entrance hall, though, an obstacle duly reared its head.

"Surprise, surprise – it's locked," Fox reported, rattling the doors in irritation. "I suppose there's a deadly challenge or two we have to complete to get it, right?"

"No, no – only a couple of booby traps," Krystal grinned, producing something small, shiny and distinctly key-shaped from the right-hand cup of her bikini top.

"You have no shame," Fox laughed. "Where'd you happen upon that?"

"On a ship," the vixen replied, clicking the key into the lock and twisting it, then dropping it into a handy pocket in Fox's pack.

"Heh. Kinda fits that you'd be on the ocean at some point." Fox pushed the doors open, and ushered his companion through. "Being the colour you are, I mean."

"A _flying_ ship," Krystal added, leading the way down yet another metal-lined passage. This one soon terminated at a t-junction.

Fox blinked. "Flying? As in soaring through the cloudless blue sky kind of flying?"

"More like rainy, cloud-choked sky, but yes," Krystal confirmed. "I'm pretty sure it's Scales' ship, though how he got the technology to build it is beyond me."

"Another thing to add to my list of oddities," Fox drawled. He glanced to the left to find a strange opaque, rippling force-field of some kind, and to the right to find a solid wall with a huge Krazoa mask attached to it, pillars flanking it. He nodded toward it. "That looks promising."

"Very. Watch my back." Krystal padded forward, a little cautiously, while Fox kept a watchful eye on the way they'd come. As the vixen stepped into the shadow of the mask the Krazoa she carried seemed to take control of her, for she dropped to her knees and flung her arms wide and her head back. She cried out, and the spirit erupted from her chest. It rose to the same height as its effigy, span to face the same way, then dissolved right into it.

An intense beam of burning light erupted from the maw of the mask, blasting straight through the force-field opposite. Krystal ducked to the near side then backed away. Fox caught hold of her and pulled her into the passage with him, eyes fixed on the shadows around the pillars. He could have sworn something was moving in there. Even if it was just his eyes playing tricks on him, that beam unsettled him more than enough to be cautious.

Eventually, the mask ceased emitting the ray, just clicked it off like a switch had been flicked. Fox took that as his cue to lead Krystal back to the entrance hall, repeatedly twisting his head round to look behind them. Nothing showed itself and nothing could be heard, but he wouldn't be comfortable until they were out of this odd example of a Palace and flying back to Thorntail Hollow. Krystal appeared to agree, for she didn't argue with him at all, and glanced back quite a few times herself.

The rain was still falling hard outside and the cloudrunner still waited, flanks slick as could be, but showing no discomfort. Fox helped Krystal climb aboard, then jumped on behind her. As the dinosaur launched into flight, powerful wings driving the party away from the Palace, the shadows behind one of the half-arches seemed to tremble, and a harsh, hissing voice rose from their depths.

"Damn you, McCloud…"


	4. A Right Royal Pain

**Chapter 3**

**A Right Royal Pain**

The cloudrunner affected a sharp, not entirely tidy landing next to Fox's arwing. McCloud dropped smoothly from its back then turned to help Krystal down. Barely had her sandal-shod feet touched the grass than the cloudrunner was leaping into the air without a word or glance back, powerful wings driving it up and out of the Hollow with all speed.

"Guess I wasn't the only one spooked by that place," Fox observed, leaning against his arwing and watching the dinosaur through narrowed, thoughtful eyes until it had dwindled completely from sight.

"Definitely not," Krystal agreed, hugging herself, a slight shiver running through her body and her eyes flicking restlessly about. "The whole time I was by that Krazoa mask I felt like I was being watched, and not by benign eyes, either. In fact, they felt downright carnivorous." She flicked a glance at Fox. "You probably think I imagined it, don't you?"

"No, actually." Fox shook his head. "There _was _something watching you, or me, or both of us; skulking in the shadows behind one of the pillars. I didn't manage to see more than a very vague shape, though. I couldn't even swear to a species."

"I just can't get away from that damn thing._"_ Krystal's arresting blue eyes had taken on a haunted, almost harried look that disconcerted Fox just as much as the shifting shadows had, if not a little bit more. "The day I…left Cerinia, and ever-so-often after that – usually when I'm beginning to think I may actually have seen the back of it – I feel it watching me. Never see it; just feel it. I had explained it away as my lonely mind playing tricks on me, but now…"

So much of what she said begged for further inquiry, but in the end Fox focused on the one word that chimed with him the most. "Lonely?"

Krystal let out a dry, ever-so-slightly bitter chuckle. "I've spent three and a half years drifting through space in a tinny little ship searching for somewhere to stop and someone to talk to. Yes, I'd say I was lonely."

"And then you get me for company." Fox couldn't stop a tinge of the anger he felt at himself infecting his speech. "The congenital idiot in the merc costume."

Krystal cocked her head slightly, her beautiful pastel face beginning to twitch into something that just might have been a smile. "Do you see me complaining?"

"Any company after a drought, I suppose." Rattled as it was by her sudden warmth, Fox's bleak opinion of himself wasn't going to change without a fight. It lost the bout the moment Krystal's hands lightly gripped his and her smile broadened.

"I'll admit, a few more days alone and I'd have taken up talking to my staff. As it is, though, I got lucky. Very lucky."

A selection of possible replies formed in Fox's head, but not one found its way to his mouth. All he could do was stare at her, wondering if the gentle, quiet, innocent vixen before him was really the same assured, sharp-witted Krystal he'd been swapping verbal jousts with for the past couple of hours. The grin spreading across the vixen's neat muzzle told him he hadn't done a great job of hiding his thoughts. Now his modesty stepped into the ring. "I wish I knew what you see in me."

"More than you seem to," Krystal answered, with a soft chuckle. "And certainly enough to know I'd enjoy having you for a friend."

Fox caught himself smiling. Strange that he should feel so comfortable around someone he'd only known for a couple of hours. Even stranger that she should feel comfortable enough around him to let a softer, more innocent and potentially more vulnerable side of her show through, even for a brief moment. She was a complex creature, no doubt about that, and one he found himself very interested in getting to know better. His thoughts found their way into words.

"I think I'd enjoy having you for a friend, too." He surprised himself with the sincerity in his voice.

Barely had he finished uttering the word 'friend' than Krystal was wrapping him up in a warm embrace, her head coming to rest on his shoulder.

"_Demonstrative,"_ Fox thought, mildly startled, but not resisting. A distinctly un-merc-like warmth spreading inside of him he returned the hug, truly enjoying the moment, and actually a little reluctant for it to end. "_Amazing how quickly you can warm to so…"_

"FOX!" Pepper's holographic head ballooned into view above the holocom now hovering in front of McCloud. "What's taking you so damned long?!"

"I got a little side-tracked," Fox explained, a touch testily, his hold on Krystal shifting unconsciously to the protective. Something told him keeping her a secret from the canine General would be a very good idea indeed. "I found myself a weapon – a staff. Now I'm armed, I can start searching the Hollow."

Pepper seemed mollified, his face relaxing considerably. "Running into trouble, are we?"

"Yes. Six-foot, green, scaly, heavily-armed trouble," Fox confirmed, dryly. "Sharpclaws are annoyingly common around here. Fortunately, they're not too bright, so I think I can cope."

"Good, good!" The General cracked a smile. "Contact me when you've found the Queen Earthwalker. Pepper, out."

The hound's image blipped from view and Fox slipped the holocom back into his pocket. Krystal was certain she'd heard a hint of pain and anger flickering through the latter's voice, but didn't comment on it, even though she was intensely curious about it. Too many risks.

"Any idea of where to start?" she asked, her chin still resting on his shoulder. "There's got to be at least half a dozen places you can get to from here."

"First," Fox answered, sounding a little distracted, "we talk to the Thorntails, see if they know anything of the Queen's whereabouts. If they don't prove helpful, we'll have to scour the Hollow for her or signs of her. If _that_ fails…well, we'll tackle that bridge should we come to it. Now, you take the far side of the river, and I'll take this side. Once we've chatted with all the dinos we'll meet up by the Arwing – that's the dented mess with wings sitting behind us – and compare notes. Okay?"

Krystal pulled back a little, smiled, nodded, then paused on noticing a certain tension in Fox's expression. Since that hadn't been there before the General contacted him, the conclusion was inescapable. From what little she'd seen of the hound he was undoubtedly an abrasive character, but to her mind that wasn't near enough to explain what was currently simmering in the depths of Fox's expressive green eyes. She hesitated, debating whether or not to pass comment on what she'd observed. In the end, Fox made the choice for her.

"I really am an open book, aren't I?" he remarked, with bittersweet humour. "To answer the question you didn't ask, yes, I have little fondness for the General. The reason why… is something I'd prefer to keep to myself for now."

"Fair enough." Krystal agreed, smile resurfacing. "But if you do ever want to get it off your chest…"

"Not just beautiful, but compassionate, too." Fox's warm smile was enough to bring a little colour back into her cheeks. "If I didn't know better, I'd say I was dreaming you. Now if you'll excuse me, there's some dinos I must see."

Krystal let out a gentle giggle, suddenly feeling quite girlish, something she hadn't felt since she _was_ a girl. She also felt more than a little reluctant to break the relaxed hug that had already lasted several minutes, though exactly why she couldn't pin down. Fox didn't seem in any hurry to cease the contact either, for despite his light-hearted rhyming he had yet to step back. They couldn't stay like this all day, however, as pleasant as the idea seemed, so she affected an awkward retreat, easing from his grasp and padding swiftly toward the river, not speaking a word or even looking at him.

Keeping him out of her sight was just about doable, with a bit of willpower, but out of her mind was a different thing entirely. Something about Fox McCloud had snagged her interest, but once again the why of it eluded her, which served mostly to fuel her fascination with him even more. One possibility had occurred to her, but she'd quickly shut it away in one of the more remote sections of her mind, for the time being at least. It was much too soon to be contemplating it. She had to get to know him better, first. Still, a little, almost throwaway comment her mother had once made resurfaced with quiet insistence – if they're right for you, you'll spark straight away. She had to admit, they were certainly getting on a lot better than she'd had any right to expect…

Still musing over her new companion the cerulean vixen forged forward into the river, swimming strongly. It took only half a minute to reach the opposite bank, whereupon she slipped gracefully out, gave herself a vigorous and mostly useless shake, and headed for the nearest Thorntail. He – at least, Krystal thought it was a he – greeted her with the same expression every member of his species seemed to wear continuously, a mixture of cheerful welcome and quiet curiosity that made it very easy to warm to them.

"Opsijo mo," she asked, politely, "rik xulo yei jood kxo Giood Ouhkxnucboh?"

"Yoj," it answered, cheerfully, in a broad, not-too-bright-sounding accent, gently nodding its head towards something behind Krystal. "Kxo Jxuhfscunj cesbot xoh adjato kxuk jkhudwo fcuso eloh kxoho."

The vixen turned elegantly around to find herself staring directly at a tall, solid, stone construction set into a v-shaped notch in the lofty rock wall of the Hollow. It was sited some way to the left, as she looked at it, of Fox's Arwing. Two thick pillars, both bearing geometric patterns with a stylised scarab beetle symbol at their centres, and an imposing slab of a lintel framed a walled-up entrance at least three times her height and broad enough for a Thorntail to waddle through.

In front of both pillars were equally broad plinths decorated with more angular patterns and scarabs, and with gouts of flame almost as big as she was flaring from their tops. Resting on the pillars and lintel was a piece of stonework the size of everything below it put together, shaped like a pyramid with the top sliced off, and featuring one last immense scarab as the centrepiece of its intricate decorations, along with a huge red staff target. Squat and chunky walls, geometric and beetle-based designs covering every surface bar the top, formed a fair-sized courtyard in front of the imposing portal.

"How come I never noticed that before?" Krystal asked herself, under her breath. "It's not like it's easy to miss, after all." She dismissed the question with a firm shake of the head then turned to ask one of the Thorntail. "Yei ted'k bden nxuk ak'j veh, kxod?"

"De." The dino answered, helpfully. "Kxeiwx ak mawxk xulo jemokxadw ke te nakx jsuhurj…"

Krystal wasn't entirely sure if he was being flippant or not, so decided against firing back a sharp "I'd never have guessed" and simply thanked him for his help before heading at a jog back to the river, confident that she had all the information they needed.

Halfway across she became aware that Fox was waiting on the far bank, and a truly wicked idea took root in her impish mind. Smiling sweetly, she paddled to a halt right in front of him and reached up a hand. McCloud, ever the gentlefox, took the hint, gripping the paw in preparation for helping her onto dry land. He didn't get the chance.

One sharp tug was all it took to send him tumbling into the water, a high-pitched yelp escaping his lips. He surfaced in a gasping, spluttering rush, totally disorientated. The moment he clapped eyes on the beautiful blue vixen elegantly treading water some feet away, her pastel face split by an irresistible grin, everything fell into place.

"Was I really that unpleasant to be around?" he asked, finding it utterly impossible to be even mildly irritated with her.

"No, I just think the wet look really suits you," she answered, the imp still strong in her. "You're much too trusting, you know that?"

"It had occurred to me," Fox replied dryly. He started to scull steadily toward her. "Do you know what mercenaries do to those who make them look stupid?"

"Why don't you tell me?" She in turn began smoothly backing away.

"I prefer practical demonstrations. If you'd kindly hold still…"

"You'll excuse me if I do-urf!"

So fixated on one another were the two foxes neither had registered the Sharpclaw waddling up to the bank. Of course, now it had a thick, scaly hand hooked under the strap of Krystal's bikini top and was hauling her toward itself, it was rather hard to ignore. While Fox struck out for the bank the vixen struck out at the dino's hand, but to no noticeable effect; the guy seemed immune to pain. That left her with Plan B; a quick fiddle with the buttons at the back of her bikini top and it snapped away from her, leaving the startled Sharpclaw to crash heavily to the grass, right in front of McCloud.

It barely had time to drop Krystal's top before Fox tore into it with a vicious flurry of blows, giving it no choice but to escape into the standard shimmer of blue.

"I'll have to remember that trick," Krystal remarked, bending down to pick her top up. "As a Sharpclaw-foiling ploy, it's a definite winner."

"A total lack of modesty has its advantages, huh?" Fox grinned, studiously studying a tree directly opposite to the vixen.

"And some disadvantages. That damn dino tore my strap!"

"How inconsiderate. Luckily I always pack a needle and thread for just such an emergency."

"Really? That _is_ handy." She padded round in front of him and proffered the damaged garment, totally at ease with being topless. "If you could stop being unnecessarily polite and make haste in stitching my top back together I'd be much obliged. I'd do it, except that Sharpclaw could probably sew better than me."

"All right," Fox agreed, with a nod. "Let's perch on the courtyard wall over there, I'll stitch this up, then we can see what's beyond that outsize door the Thorntails pointed me towards."

"Works for me."

Seconds later they were sitting side by side on the squat courtyard wall, facing the river, Fox rummaging in his backpack.

"Now where did I put the-_ow_! In my finger." He lifted his hand from the pack's insides to reveal a glittering needle stuck into the tip of his middle digit. He plucked it free, ignoring the chuckles rising from his cerulean companion, then dug the thread out of the bag.

"Are you _sure_ you know what you're doing?" Krystal asked, resting her right hand on his left shoulder and her chin on his right.

"I'm not as incompetent as I may look," Fox assured her. "My father taught me well. It's just a touch hard to concentrate when there's a beautiful, topless vixen leaning against you."

"Well, I could duck behind a bush until you're done, if you like," Krystal suggested, with a grin.

"Don't bother." Fox set expertly to his task, weaving the thread through the cloth of the bikini top with a speed and fluidity that greatly impressed his companion. "The view would suffer considerably for your absence." He paused. "Wait – that didn't come out right…"

Krystal let out a hearty laugh. "It came out just fine, and I'm flattered. I wouldn't have thought myself much to look at."

"Another thing my Father taught me – never, ever let beauty go without remark." Fox put aside the needle and thread and tested his handiwork with a couple of sharp tugs. It proved as solid as could be. "In other words, if you find a person beautiful, tell them so." He handed the vixen her top. "I find you beautiful, and I will keep telling you so until you believe me."

"You might have a long wait," Krystal told him, a soft red tinge visible under her pastel cheek fur. Eager to change the subject lest she end up redder than Fox she pressed firm lips to the side of his muzzle. "Thanks, handsome."

She then dropped gracefully from the wall, leaving McCloud staring at the river, suddenly lost in a dreamy daze.

"Keep acting like that," Krystal chuckled, strapping her bikini top back on, "and people will start to think you're quite the idiot."

"I'm surprised you don't already." Fox jogged across to join her. "It's not like I've been doing much to prove otherwise, after all."

"You're the most handsome, gallant, brave and just generally wonderful fox I've ever met, and I've met a few." Krystal activated her staff's projectile power and sent a bolt into the target. The stone door rumbled slowly open. "And I'll keep telling you so until you believe me."

"You really know how to make a male's head swell," Fox chuckled, turning to lead the way to the door, staff in hand. "I'll have trouble fitting it through the doorway, now."

"Oh, I'll find a way to deflate it, don't you worry," Krystal assured him, patting him on the back.

"If you don't, I will." He leaned cautiously through the doorway, staff held back across his companion's waist in a very protective posture. It relaxed the moment he saw the narrow chamber's only occupant.

Slumped almost exactly in the middle was a dinosaur of similar size to a thorntail, but much more imposing in appearance. The body and legs were stocky, muscular and wrapped in a purple-tinged hide tougher than leather. The broad, strong head had something of the raptor about it, especially in the way the upper jaw hooked over the lower one by about an inch. The dino's identity was made very obvious by the trio of glittering red jewels set in a wide semi-circle in the immense, segmented, spike-ringed fringe that extended from the top and sides of her head, looking not unlike a regal headdress.

"Queen Earthwalker." He relaxed, letting his staff drop. "Maybe now we can get an answer or two."

"Or not – she looks almost unconscious." Krystal darted across to her, kneeling down by her head, resting her paw just above a barely-open eye.

"Find…my…son…" Her voice was a hoarse, strained whisper, as if even breathing was agony. "Ice…mountain… Warpstone…"

"Warpstone?" Fox was kneeling next to Krystal, face twisted with confusion. "You mean a transport pad of some sort?"

The Queen didn't answer, simply gazed pleadingly up at them. As much as he liked to think of himself as a hardened, unsentimental soldier, Fox McCloud found it very hard to refuse her. He wasn't alone.

"We'll find him," Krystal vowed, determination ringing through her voice. "And find a way to cure whatever it is that's laid you so low."

"Something tells me finding the former will help find the latter," Fox reasoned. "I just hope he's not in the hands of the sharpclaws."

"If he is we should be able to pry him out easily enough." Krystal straightened up, fixed him with a purposeful gaze. "Think the thorntails might know what and where the warpstone is?"

"One way to find out."

Fox led the way back out into the Hollow at a swift jog, quickly zeroing in on the nearest thorntail. Its answer to his query was an expression that looked uncannily like amusement and a casual nod over its shoulder.

"He's looking at you now," it told them, tone that of someone explaining something very simple to someone very dim.

Two sets of eyes followed his lead and promptly snapped dinner-plate wide in utter astonishment. The gargantuan statue behind the ornate stone wall had swivelled round where it sat and now directed a curious gaze at the slack-jawed vulpines, head cocked slightly to one side.

"Bloody hell, it's _alive_!" both foxes yelped, triggering mass fits of giggles from every thorntail in hearing distance.

"Aye, and it can hear, too," Warpstone fired back, in a thick, booming brogue that managed to be both fitting and yet strangely quirky. "What ye want me for, eh?"

"Er…the Queen Earthwalker said you might be able to help us find her son," Fox answered, trying not to sound too overwhelmed.

"I might. In fact, if ye can find me something to eat, I will. Been too long since I've had a nice sweetie."

"Sweetie?" Krystal was starting to wonder if that mushroom she'd eaten for breakfast had hallucinogenic side-effects. Either that or there really was a thirty-foot living statue asking for a sweetie. "What kind of sweetie would that thing eat?"

"Try the store," the nearest thorntail suggested, helpfully, nodding its head toward an arched opening in the age-old wall, not too far to the right of the waterfall. "Hope you got plenty of scarabs."

"And if we don't?" Fox enquired.

"Try under the rocks."

"Under the…" Fox blinked. "We're talking actual, live beetles here, aren't we?"

"Yep," Krystal confirmed, already heading for the nearest boulder. "And they can be a pain to catch."

"Lovely."

McCloud brought out the scarab bag then made haste to join her, and together they wedged the ends of their staffs as far under the rock as they could, and levered it up. Instantly a trio of glowing green, inch-long beetles with huge black orbs of eyes scuttled into view, moving slowly enough for Fox to scoop them up without any real effort.

"That was easy," he commented, cockily, dropping them into the bag. "I must have a knack for it."

"Those were only greens – slowest of the lot, and therefore only worth one. Easy pickings." She started walking toward a ring of boulders not too far from the arwing.

"Oh." Fox's ears drooped. "What other kinds are there, then?"

"Yellow – fairly quick, worth five; orange – very quick, worth ten; scarlet – stupidly quick, worth twenty," Krystal rattled off. "You catch one of them, I'll be officially impressed. How many can we fit in the bag?"

"Another seven, I'd say," Fox estimated. "So if we catch seven scarlets, that'd be a total of 143. Should be enough to get Warpstone his sweetie."

"We're highly unlikely to get one scarlet, let alone seven," Krystal opined. "Let's just see if we can amass enough to be worth fifty."

"Okay. Pick a stone."

Krystal nominated one of the larger rocks, then both foxes smoothly lifted it on one side. This time a pair of yellows emerged, moving twice as fast as the greens and therefore requiring twice the alacrity from the vulpines to be captured. Moving round the boulders netted them three more greens, two more yellows, an orange and a scarlet, Fox catching the latter by the simple method of bodily flinging himself at it, almost smacking his nose on a rock as he did so.

"That's a grand total of fifty-six," he reported, tying up the now bulging scarab bag. "Let's go see if this place stocks foot-wide cookies."

On reaching the arched wall opening and peering inside they found the floor of the tunnel beyond was some six feet lower than that of the Hollow. Thickly-packed vines snaking up the rock face provided an easy descent option, then they headed along the passage side-by-side, noting how surprisingly bright and airy it was. A colourful tapestry hung across the far exit, almost to the ground. It rose silently and gracefully out of the way as they approached, completely of its own accord, giving them an unrestricted view of the store.

The main chamber was a lofty dome, bare except for three tapestry-covered openings opposite the main one, a well, of all things, directly in the centre, and a truly surreal example of a dinosaur floating right in front of them. Exactly how he floated neither vulpine could work out, since he possessed no wings, skin flaps or technological assistance. In fact, he didn't even have legs, just a long, thick tail that curled up at the tip some inches above the floor. He wore a lush purple robe that extended halfway down the tail and his shifty, predatory face was framed by a matching hood topped off by a small metallic boss and a striking purple plume. A broad green and brown collar ringed his neck, a large carved scarab hanging from the front of it.

"Welcome to my shop." He flashed a grin that left the foxes in no doubt that here was someone of very few morals, and much greed. "I stock maps, food and many useful goods. Feel free to look around."

"Thanks." Fox only just managed to keep the distaste out of his voice. "I know this may be a strange question, but…you know the Warpstone outside?"

A nod, gimlet eyes appraising him all the while.

"We need to get him…a little treat so he'll help us. Any ideas?"

"Yes, yes. Follow!" He beckoned excitedly, drifting through the leftmost of the three doors.

This chamber was a large oblong, lined with niches, each containing multiple examples of a particular object, from dumbledang pods to fuel cells. The sight of the latter – luminous blue orbs swirling with internal energy – sparked understandable anger in Fox.

"What the hell is he doing with those?" he demanded, striding toward them, only for the shopkeeper to block him off with unsettling speed.

"You pay this much," he intoned, pulling the carved scarab on his chest apart to reveal the digits 010.

Fox repeatedly attempted to slip round him, but the oddball dino somehow managed to block him every way he went, without even looking. Before too long, McCloud admitted defeat, glaring daggers at the totally unresponsive shopkeeper.

"You pay this much," he repeated, obstinately.

"Oh, for…" Fox pulled out his holocom. "ROB!"

The robot's head bloomed into view. "Yes, Fox?"

"What happened with the fuel cells?"

"The transport didn't go entirely to plan."

"You don't say."

"The cells ended up scattered all over the surface of the planet. Your zoom goggles are lost as well."

"WHAT?! Oh, this just keeps getting better and better. I suppose creepy there's already found them and'll charge me a fortune for the privilege of getting them back!"

"Excuse me, Fox?"

"Never mind. Fox out." He slipped the holocom back into his pocket, turned around, and had to bite back the urge to scream in frustration. In a niche exactly opposite of him sat his zoom goggles.

"How much?" Krystal asked, hurriedly, worried McCloud might explode volcano-style before they got a chance to find Warpstone's treat.

"You pay this much," the shopkeeper answered, predictably, displaying a price of 20 scarabs.

"15." Krystal decided to try a little haggling.

"No, that's too low."

"16?"

"No, that's too low."

"I'm starting to see a theme here. 17?"

"I don't need business from the likes of you! Cheapskates! Get out!"

"All right, then – twenty it is."

"All right, I'll sell it to you."

Krystal took the scarab bag from a still-seething Fox and plucked out the single scarlet scarab. The sight of it caused an expression of the most intense avarice to pass over the shopkeeper's face. He snatched it roughly from the vixen, stuffed it into some hidden pocket in his robes, then turned to float across to the other side of the room.

"Here." She handed Fox his goggles. "Any cells you need we can pick up as we travel. Now, let's get our statue friend his sweetie before you garrotte that shopkeeper with his own collar."

"Don't give me ideas."

Fox followed Krystal over to the shopkeeper, now hovering alongside a foot-wide disc of light grey stone, a much smaller one of a deep red crystal set in the middle of it. They exchanged long-suffering glances, then groaned in unison.

"Rock candy."

"Well?" Fox prompted, eyeing the shopkeeper impatiently.

This time the digits read 010, and once again this price proved impossible to chip away at. Krystal handed over the orange scarab then Fox hefted the rock candy, finding it heavy but not unmanageable. Side-by-side they headed back into the main chamber, studiously ignoring the shopkeeper as he drifted along in their wake. Both could not resist peering into the black depths of the well, whereupon a croaking, sinister voice echoed up to them.

"Pay me twenty scarabs, and I'll give you a token. Feed it to the prophet well, and listen carefully."

Not for the first time that day glances were exchanged and a silent agreement was reached. Krystal let the four yellows drop into the seemingly endless well. A pause, four sharp crunches, a reverberant belch, then a shining gold coin embossed with an image of Warpstone was spat up to them, landing with a clink between them. The vixen snatched it up and slipped it into Fox's backpack, keeping one eye on the shopkeeper, who was hovering a little too close for comfort.

Much to both vulpine's relief he didn't follow them through the exit, preferring to remain by the well, muttering to himself about how draughty his cave was and that he really should move to Cape Claw before he froze to death. They did their best to shut his moaning out and focused on getting the rock candy up the six-foot vine-bedecked wall and outside, Krystal swarming up to the top and Fox carefully handing the 'sweetie' to her. Then there came a real problem.

"How do we get it past the wall?" Fox wondered, taking the load back from his companion. "There's no opening."

"I think we can make one," Krystal answered, gazing across the river. "I can see a crack."

"Pity I left my blaster at home," Fox quipped, dryly.

"There are other ways," Krystal assured him, cryptically. "In fact, one's growing just across the river."

"You mean that huge, pulsing, yellow-brown blob of a plant, don't you?" Fox realised.

"I do. I decided to use one of them for target practice after getting the projectile power," Krystal explained, looking a little red-faced. "It exploded after just one shot, throwing out a few purple spores. Knocked me clean onto my backside. I've still got the bruises. Anyway, one of them landed on a patch of bare earth, and another plant grew from it in a matter of seconds. You see where I'm leading?"

"Uh-huh, although I'm having a little trouble taking this all in. I mean, I've seen some offbeat stuff, but this is a whole new ball game…"

"You'll get used to it," Krystal assured him, trotting down to the river and wading in.

"Somehow, I doubt that." Fox headed for the shallowest part of the river he could find, in order that he could simply walk across. On the far side he set the 'sweetie' down and joined Krystal a short way from the bomb spore plant, staff drawn. "Mind if I try it?"

"Not at all. Just let me get to a safe distance first." She dashed over to lean against his arwing. "Ready!"

Far from reassured by this Fox squared his shoulders, activated the projectile power, and took aim. A single bolt in its flank and the plant exploded with startling violence, a flash of light and fire, and a trio of large purple spores erupted into the air. McCloud, once he'd got over his momentary shock at the sight, collected the gently drifting spores then strolled over to hand them to Krystal.

"I'll let you have the pleasure of blasting that wall," he told her. "My ears are still ringing from the first time."

"Fair enough," she grinned, with a nod. "But if I get hurt, I expect you to kiss it better!"

Fox's eyes widened. "That could prove to be interesting at the least, and acutely embarrassing at the worst. Lead on, Milady."

A giggling Krystal led the way to the jagged crack in the wall and crouched down to deposit a bomb spore in the bare, stony earth just in front of it. Even as she stepped back, almost bumping into a rock candy-carrying McCloud, the plant swelled into being. Krystal whipped her staff from its place on her back, took aim, and fired, all in one smooth motion. Another billowing explosion followed, blasting a rough hole more than big enough to slip through and scattering dust and debris for quite a distance.

One small chunk of stone ricocheted off the side of Krystal's muzzle, leaving a shallow gash in its wake. Even as she was yelping in surprise and pain soothing lips were applied to the wound, taking a little of the sting out of it. Fox, she realised with a smile. A large part of her was very tempted to kiss him right back, but she decided, after a moment's thought, to hold that particular option back for later use. This time she simply nodded warm thanks, then led the way through the new hole, tail swinging in an almost jaunty fashion.

"If you're trying to hypnotise me," Fox remarked, eyes flicking back and forth in perfect time with her bushy blue tail, "it's working!"

"A hunky, handsome fox slave of my very own!" the vixen giggled. "A very tempting idea, but one I think I'll leave until _after_ we've saved the planet from the massed forces of evil."

"Ye really think ye can stop Scales?" A familiar basso voice asked, though not at quite such a ground-shaking volume as before. "He's more powerful than he might seem, ye know."

The Warpstone, it turned out, was actually only half a statue, cut off at the waist. He sat on his own personal island, the river splitting around him; a disc of land just the right diameter for him, and ringed by squat grey rock. This rough natural wall he would grip in his immense and immensely powerful hands, lifting his entire bulk a short way off the ground and revolving himself around as the whim or the company dictated. Carved bands set with green crystals wound around both wrists and the top of a potato-shaped head that was more than half the size of the body. His only other 'dress' was what Fox could only liken to a fancy stone collar and tie, obviously some kind of ancient ceremonial garment favoured by whatever creatures had fashioned Warpstone back in the distant past of Dinosaur Planet. Just how distant quickly became plain.

"A thousand years I've been resting," Warpstone intoned, with all the bombast he could muster, though still sounding like he was delivering lines from a well-rehearsed script. "A thousand years I've been waiting for a couple such as you; a couple the Spirits predicted would quell great turmoil, dispel a thunderous storm that would threaten to tear the planet apart at the seams. A couple with a future beyond compare."

"Does he have to use the word 'couple' so much?" Fox murmured darkly to himself as they crossed a grass-coated arch of rock spanning the river between a tinkling waterfall and the point it split around Warpstone's island.

"Why?" Krystal asked, genuinely curious, though not for the reasons McCloud jumped to.

"Well, uh…" Fox paused, startled to think she could be that much of an innocent, and fighting to find the right words. "It makes us sound like we're married. Paired up. Mated."

"Oh. You make it sound like that's a bad thing." The vixen hopped lightly over a narrow point in the natural moat, and onto a small, circular, grassy platform set in the only gap in the rock wall and right in front of a highly amused Warpstone. She turned to face McCloud, hands clasped lightly in front of her, smiling head cocked to one side, the warm sunlight accentuating her gentle curves and rich blue fur in a way that made her look almost too good to be true. Fox had to admit, spending his life with her would be far from a chore.

"Well, I…" He cleared his throat. Now he'd gotten himself into a fix, and for once none of his normal get-out plans were a viable option. "I was always one for honesty." Ye Gods did that sound feeble…

Krystal didn't believe him for an instant, convinced there was much more to it, but decided to let it drop for now. There'd be plenty of time to coax it all out if him. "Fair enough. You know, it might be a good idea to give Warpstone his treat before your hands end up dragging on the ground."

"Ah, a sweetie!" The thirty-foot half-statue snatched the treat from McCloud, almost taking the completely unprepared vulpine with it, and stuffed it into his waiting mouth, adopting the kind of dreamy expression usually seen on a cub eating chocolate ice cream. "Rock candy. Ma favourite!" He swallowed, then let out a thunderous belch. "Now, join yer lady-friend on the platform and I'll tell ye what I'm all aboot."

Fox did as bid, finding it a little hard to look at Krystal, especially when she wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Now," Warpstone continued. "In case ma name hasnae given it away, I have the ability tae warp ye to two other points on the planet. Ma left hand" – here he extended the palm in question – "can take ye to Ice Mountain. My right, Krazoa Palace. If that wasnae enough choice, I can also let ye into the Maze" – here he used both hands and the rock wall to briefly tilt his body back, revealing steep steps leading down into the island beneath him – "home of the prophet well. Ye got all that?"

Two sharp heads nodded understanding.

"Then choose and step." Both massive hands lowered to rest either side of the platform.

"We could take that token to the prophet well," Krystal remarked, "but that would mean taking longer to find the Prince, which for me isn't an option."

"Same here," Fox agreed. "Ice Mountain it is. Mind if I go first this time?"

"Go for it."

McCloud stepped onto Warpstone's left palm, whereupon it was lifted to bring him on a level with the statue's head.

"This may leave ye a touch disorientated," Warpstone warned. "The first time, at least. And make sure ye step off the platform at the other end without delay, else things could turn a wee bit messy, ye ken?"

"I ken," Fox told him, feeling nauseous.

"Good. Now, are ye ready ta warp?"

"As I'll ever be." Fox squared his shoulders, attempting to appear resolute and almost succeeding.

"Then here we go." Warpstone's blocky fingers curled up in a cupping motion, and McCloud's world faded to shimmering, sparkling blue.

A moment of swirling and spinning through a blurred tapestry of interwoven colours and dancing stars, then a whole new view coalesced around him. Though very dizzy, he had just enough presence of mind to stumble off the glowing white platform he found himself on, if only to fall against a bitterly cold rock wall. Just as he was beginning to regain his bearings Krystal faded into view, and almost instantly lost her footing, toppling straight toward him. Fox somehow managed to turn his back to the wall in time to let her crumple onto him, softening the fall.

"Warpstone is a master of understatement," he observed, dryly, as the vixen sat up. "'A touch disorientated' really doesn't cut it."

"You're telling me." Krystal put a hand to her temple. "Please stop spinning, head."

While his companion recovered from the warp Fox took in their new surroundings. It was a cave, plain and simple, the walls grey and frosty, the floor smooth and icy, the air still and silent. And cold. Very cold. Cold enough to cut right through his thick clothing and fur. This naturally led him to wonder how Krystal, minimally-attired as she was, could even begin to cope. Only one way to know.

"I don't think a bikini is exactly ideal for these conditions, y'know," he remarked, jovially. "Think you'll survive?"

"As long as we're here less than five minutes, maybe, otherwise…" She already had her arms clamped around herself. "What I wouldn't give for a cloak right now."

Fox shed his jacket, and proffered it to her. "For what difference it'll make."

"Plenty," she responded, gratefully, slipping into it, "though I may still need defrosting when we get back to the Hollow. Hello – do you hear something?"

Fox's ears snapped to attention. "Sounds like a ship. And voices – Sharpclaw voices."

Together the foxes scurried up the gently curving cave, flattening themselves against the wall as they neared the entrance. Beyond lay a snowbound mountaintop hollow, a desolate space hemmed in by jagged rock and currently home to a quartet of sharpclaws. They stood in a rough square in front of their shelter, a heavy-duty box of a building wedged amongst the bleak rock almost directly opposite the cave, all eyes fixed on a dirty, angular little transport craft hovering above them. A hatch in the underbelly slid open and a tractor beam slowly descended, something small and alive transfixed in the globe of light at the end. An earthwalker, and only a baby at that. It had to be the Prince.

He came to rest right in the middle of the sharpclaws, who took great pleasure in cracking him across the flanks with their clubs a few times, before herding him less-than-gently into their shelter, the thick, frost-encrusted door sliding heavily down behind them.

"Any ideas how to get in?" Krystal asked, in a whisper, teeth gritted behind a strained face.

"Not yet." Fox looked just as angry and determined. "But we will. Let's take a look-see."

McCloud took the lead, padding silently into the wintry scene, noting the pertinent details as he did so. A gate was right next to the cave, leading into a narrow ribbon of a pathway that twisted down the mountain and out of sight. Further to his left was an area closed off by tall steel walls, the only entrance blocked off by a half-dozen metal crates haphazardly stacked two high. Beyond that a small crack was visible in the rock face, hinting at a possible back way in. He headed directly for it, ears trained, eyes ceaselessly scanning the hollow for any signs of approaching trouble.

On reaching the small enclosure, he took a moment to scale the boxes and peep over. His observant gaze registered a further scattering of crates, both wooden and metal, and a single sharpclaw sitting amongst them, apparently on guard. If the crack proved of little use, the dino would be the most promising alternative. He'd certainly have to be dealt with, in any case. No way would he fail to hear the bomb spore plant exploding.

McCloud dropped back to the snow, whispered what he'd seen to Krystal, then resumed his course, the vixen right on his tail. She planted a spore in front of the gash, then both backed away. Fox took aim at the plant while Krystal focused her staff on the entrance to the enclosure. Two bolts scorched the air in rapid succession, the first triggering a blast that revealed a narrow hidden passageway, the second striking the lone Sharpclaw right between the eyes, knocking him out cold. Then there was absolute silence, the two foxes waiting motionless for any hint that the explosion had been heard in the shelter. Fortunately, it seemed well sound-proofed, for nobody stirred.

Letting out a long breath, Fox turned and jogged into the cramped cave, finding a tiny, circular chamber at the end of it, occupied only by another well and a trio of fuel cells. The latter he collected, but the well was left alone – they had neither the time or funds. Krystal, meanwhile, had gone to check up on the Sharpclaw, discovering he'd disappeared, as expected, but had left a little something behind. A small grey card, set with a microchip. This triggered an interesting thought, one she was quick to communicate to Fox. He found it just as interesting, and led the way to the shelter entrance, which slid slowly upwards at their approach. Nods of satisfaction were exchanged, staffs readied, then they charged inside.

Three sharpclaws gawped at them from around a shaking earthwalker, having apparently been continuing the how-many-bruises-can-we-give-him-before-he-collapses game. Nearby a trio of long, sleek speeders rested, basically stylised jet engines with handlebars and seats. In the seconds it took for brutish dinosaurs to meet athletic foxes, the earthwalker bolted, hurtling out of the shelter at a pace a cheetah would have envied. One sharpclaw bit the blue very quickly, but the others took a detour to the speeders, boarding one apiece and rocketing after the fleeing earthwalker. Fox mounted the last, Krystal sat behind him, one arm wrapped tightly about his waist, then they shot off in pursuit.

The sharpclaws' route was obvious, the gate completely shattered by their passage. Fox guided the speeder through the wreckage and down the pathway at a fur-tearing pace and with consummate skill, quickly closing the gap. The sharpclaws were far from oblivious, the rearmost one throwing mine after mine after mine out behind him. How Fox managed to avoid them as well as the rocks and the trees even he didn't know, but somehow that speeder wove away from danger every time. Krystal propped her staff on McCloud's shoulder, taking shots at the nearest sharpclaw.

After three, he was visibly slowing, enabling Fox to draw alongside and bring the speeders' flanks to within inches of each other. One kick from Krystal was enough to knock the weakening sharpclaw sideways from his, then she leapt acrobatically over to it, taking control just in time to steady it and whip round a mine left by the sharpclaw still ahead. Behind them a flurry of snow erupted as the deposed dino crashed to a bone-jarring halt with the aid of a well-placed rock.

Side-by-side Fox and Krystal burned down the pathway, steadily inching up to the remaining sharpclaw. They took turns to barge his speeder, trying to unbalance him enough to spin out and crash. After three hits, thick grey smoke billowed from the jet. After five, it gave completely, leaving the craft to skew sideways, almost brushing Fox's speeder in the process, and tumble out of control. There was a flash of blue light then the craft erupted in a searing fireball, red-hot wreckage chasing McCloud and Krystal along the pathway for quite a distance.

As the last chunk of flaming speeder disappeared into the snow the foxes suddenly realised they were running out of pathway, a plunging precipice rushing up to greet them. By the time they'd worked out where the brakes were they were already airborne. Panic turned to relief on realising they were only a short way up, and directly above a small pool. Relief turned back to panic on realising the pool was probably freezing, and they'd be lucky to get out without catching hypothermia.

The splash landing knocked the wind out of them, but the water was deep enough to prevent any injury. It was also, to their intense surprise, warm. Fox was the first to reach the bank, turning round to help Krystal ashore. Both then turned their attention to the very young earthwalker nearby, currently laughing himself to an early grave.

"You're lucky that was a hot spring, or you'd be ice cubes by now!" he chortled, in a high-pitched, overly-cheerful tone of voice that won him no affection from the bedraggled vulpines. "Frozen foxes! Hee-hee-hee!"

"Do we _really_ have to take him back?" Krystal asked, eyeing him like he was made entirely of nasal mucus. "Can't we just say he drowned and have done?"

Fox shook his head. "Considering he's probably the only one who'd have any idea how to cure his mother, sadly not."

"Cure my mother?!" the Prince yelped. "She's ill?! I gotta get to her! Take me to her, please!"

"If we knew which way to go, we would," Fox told him. "We're new here, you see."

"Obviously," the Prince grinned, cheekily. "Just follow the path. All paths lead to the Hollow eventually."

"Hopefully not too eventually," Krystal muttered.

"Now, now," Fox admonished her, playfully, getting a murderous scowl from the vixen. He turned back to the young dinosaur. "I'm Fox, and that's Krystal. What's your name?"

"The Prince Tricky," the earthwalker pronounced, in a manner that bordered on the comically pretentious. "Now get me to my mom!"

"Yes, your highness." Fox bowed deeply, the sarcasm in the gesture plain to all but Tricky. "Kindly follow me."

He set off along the icy-white pathway, Tricky bounding along in his wake, keeping up a never-ending stream of buoyant inanities. Krystal took up the rear, silently vowing never to have children herself as long as she may live on pain of death. This was going to be a long journey…


	5. A Sense of Purpose

**Chapter 4**

**A Sense of Purpose**

"I'm hungry!"

"Twenty-seven…"

"I'm hungry!"

"Twenty-eight…"

"Has he really said it that many times? I gave up counting after the first dozen…"

"I'm hungry!"

"Twenty-nine. Ask him what his favourite food is, then we can choke him on it."

"Grubtubs. Some kind of mushroom, I think. Not seen any though."

"Guess they don't like freezing cold wastelands, then. Can't say I blame them." Krystal huddled even further into the jacket Fox had leant her, shoulders hunched, arms tucked firmly inside. "I'm turning bluer than I already am."

"Well, there is…" He paused, wondering what part of him caused this particular thought to jump into his mind. The part that honestly wanted to help or the part that wanted any excuse it could find to get up close and personal with a really attractive vixen? Maybe a little of both, he decided. In any case, the thought had more than enough momentum to get itself voiced, albeit hesitantly. "There is…one thing we could do that might fend off the cold; at least to a degree."

"If you could kindly tell me before I freeze to death I would be much obliged." Krystal was shivering almost non-stop now. "Or even better, show me."

"I'm hun… Food!" Tricky bounded exuberantly away, galloping across a large frozen pool directly ahead to the tiny island locked at its centre, home to a cluster of half-a-dozen small blue fungi.

"Sharpclaws!" Fox yelped, noticing what the Prince had signally failed to, namely the trio of dinos huddled around a feeble example of a fire to the immediate left of the iced-up pool. Tricky's boisterous entrance ensured they didn't stay there, which was all the prompting McCloud needed to draw his staff and charge forward.

"Twenty-nine and a half!" Krystal sprinted right on Fox's heels, her own staff drawn and ready to crack Sharpclaw skull.

This particular clutch of scaly thugs quickly proved a little tougher than the norm, as not only did they have thick metal shields and a vague idea of how to use them, but also a modicum of actual fighting ability, inasmuch as they would occasionally dodge, duck or block blows. The familiar dance-grunt-swing-miss-by-a-mile attack pattern was present and correct, though, as was the end result – three bruised and battered sharpclaws fading into the blue, two totally unscathed vulpines slotting their staffs back into place on their backs and trying not to look too smug while doing so.

Once satisfied no further dinos were skulking on the sidelines, Fox and Krystal turned irritable eyes to the still completely oblivious Prince Tricky. Both sets widened sharply on seeing that the grubtub mushrooms were physically _moving_, hopping around the island's single tree at a quite impressive pace, an apparently inexhaustible earthwalker bouncing along behind them.

"I can't catch them!" Tricky wailed, in a tone that set both foxes' teeth on edge. "Help me, Fox!"

"Oh, give me strength…" McCloud groaned, shaking his head.

Bringing his staff back out he jogged over to Tricky and, with precision timing, bopped one of the grubtubs right on its cap, leaving it to sway on the spot in such a comically dazed fashion he could almost see stars spinning around it. Tricky snapped it up with relish to spare, then gazed beseechingly up at Fox.

"More!" It was hard to tell whether it was a demand or a plea – it had shades of both.

"If it shuts him up," Fox muttered, under his breath.

He and Krystal swiftly stunned the remaining mushrooms, the Prince gulping down all but one in double-quick time. That one McCloud dropped into his backpack for later use before taking a very deep breath and turning to Tricky.

"Why don't you look where you're running?" he demanded, managing to let only a little of the anger he felt creep into his tones and expression. "Do you want to be captured again? Beaten again?"

Tricky shook his head meekly, looking thoroughly chastised. "I…I didn't even see the Sharpclaws…"

"My point exactly…" Fox sighed, dropping to a crouch in order to look the Prince in the eyes more comfortably. "Just try to be a tad more cautious from now on, all right? Nobody wants to see you hurt."

That Tricky was a little sceptical was made plain by the pointed stare he aimed squarely at Krystal. The disarmingly honest expression of motherly concern she responded with did a lot to dispel his doubts. They died completely when she knelt down beside him, ignoring the snow as best she could, wrapped one arm around his neck, rubbed gently between his ears with the other hand, nestled her head against his and murmured "if you were ever hurt I don't know _what_ I'd do…"

Fox didn't know whether to laugh or feel a little jealous. A trace of the latter must have slipped onto his slightly too expressive face as Tricky, ever the rapier wit, stuck his tongue at out him, and Krystal let slip a musical little giggle.

"Does Foxy want some attention too?" she cooed.

McCloud just about managed to stop himself from yelling out "YES!" at the top of his lungs, but once again his traitorous face betrayed his thoughts, as evidenced by the way a certain earthwalker prince snorted with laughter. Krystal, on the other hand, seemed mildly surprised as well as gently amused. Feeling as awkward as he ever had, Fox made a hurried, discomfited stab at changing the subject.

"Any…any ideas on where we go from here?" he asked, scanning the sheer rock walls surrounding them on three sides. "Only ways I can see are back on our tracks and that path up there, if we can reach it."

"Give me a boost and I'll be up before you know it." Krystal jogged to a point directly under the elevated passage through the rock that McCloud had indicated. "Though how I'll get you and Tricky up I don't know."

"Try this." Fox joined her, handing her a short rope retrieved from his backpack then bracing his back against the stone and cupping his hands in front of him. "Ready when you are."

The vixen gripped his shoulders, rested one sandal in his hands, then paused to flash him a mischievous grin. "Don't let me fall."

Before McCloud could reply she'd sprung up onto his shoulders with the same practised ease with which he'd have jumped into his arwing's cockpit. Even after stretching up on tiptoes she was more than a foot below the lip of the passage, but rather than simply drop back to earth she tensed and jumped for the edge, fingers just managing to hook over it. Not pausing for breath she scrambled up and over the lip with a speed and agility a squirrel would have envied and that left Fox gaping.

"Do you have any simian in you, by any chance?" he called up.

"If your next question is 'do you want some?' I'm leaving you down there!" Krystal shot back, casting about for something she could tie the rope to.

"I would never dream of stooping to such crudity," Fox assured her, managing to sound suitably affronted. "And besides," he reasoned, "I'm not simian or even part simian, so the line would have no logic."

"Sorry." A soft sigh drifted down. "Knee-jerk reaction. I've heard lines like that so often I instantly think the worst."

Finally the rope was unfurled down the rock face, and Fox hauled himself up relatively comfortably, to find a rather shame-faced Krystal not quite looking at him. On an impulse, he gently gripped one of her slight blue hands in one of his gloved ones.

"A mercenary I may be, but I pride myself on showing a lady due respect. _You_ are due a _lot_ of respect. I may not be able to make up for all those crude cracks, but I'll give it a damn good try."

"Aw, that's so sweeeeet," cooed an all-too-familiar voice. "So romaaaaaaantic!"

"Oh, for…" McCloud grimaced, before forcing himself to look down at the young dinosaur currently grinning hugely up at him. "Would you mind explaining how on _Lylat_ you got up here?!"

"Not telling. My secret." Tricky stuck his extremely large tongue out at the vulpine then turned his back and bounced off, humming something that you could loosely term a tune if you were feeling generous.

"I'm suddenly sorely tempted to use him for target practice," Fox remarked, rubbing his temple.

"Form an orderly queue right behind me." Krystal slipped the rope back into McCloud's pack, having taken the opportunity to retrieve it.

"Can't we take turns?" Fox proffered an arm, which the vixen instantly took, nestling close to his side as they started strolling after a totally oblivious Tricky.

"Now there's an idea! We can make it a contest. Whoever he charges first loses."

"A limb and several pints of blood, I expect; that's a serious set of horns he's got on him."

"Then we'll fire from an elevated position. A nice tall ridge."

"And get charged from behind and knocked over the edge to plummet down to a messy doom on the ground below when he does that magical wall-climbing trick he won't ruddy explain? No thank _you_."

"Ah, you're no fun."

"Only when my life is on the line. Any other time, I'm as fun-loving as the next guy."

"Feel like singing a while?"

Fox cocked an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

Krystal let another giggle loose. "I said, 'feel like singing awhile?' You told me you were fun-loving; singing's fun."

"Eh, I think I'll pass. I was never much of a vocalist. Feel free to go solo, though."

"Don't mind if I do."

There ensued a brief moment of silence while she contemplated what to give voice to, during which time Tricky drifted back to them, then the vixen quietly cleared her throat and began to softly sing what sounded like a lullaby.

"She's _good_," Tricky murmured to Fox, genuinely impressed.

Fox nodded, a hint of mist drifting through his eyes. She _was_ good. In fact, good was an understatement. To say she could sing well was like saying Falco was a moderately capable pilot. He could only think of one other person who'd possessed such a wonderful singing voice. Thought of her sparked a fond memory long buried, only for it to be supplanted almost instantly by pain-wracked ones from a slightly more recent time. A sob choked in his throat as he fought to keep his composure. So many years had ticked past and yet the wounds still hurt like they'd been freshly inflicted…

"You all right, Fox?" An increasingly familiar hand came to rest on his shoulder. "Was it something I sang?"

McCloud just about managed to force himself back to a state approaching equilibrium. "I'm fine," he assured her, his strained voice strongly indicating otherwise. "It was just an old ghost drifting by. They do that every so often, usually with rather unfortunate timing. I'm slowly learning to live with them, though."

Krystal was far from convinced, but refrained from saying as much, telling herself to wait for a more suitable moment to satisfy both her curiosity and an increasing desire to help ease Fox's pain, that being when dear Tricky was a very, very long way away. For now, she contented herself with slipping her arm out of McCloud's and round his waist, a gesture that got no noticeable reaction from him. He'd sunk into an introspective, slightly melancholy silence, his focus much more on the past than what lay ahead…

What lay ahead was an hour-long trek through the snow-choked mountains, as monotonous and wearisome a journey as Fox could ever remember making. Not because of the scenery, which could only be described as truly magnificent, but because Tricky seemed to know just seven notes of whatever mindless little tune it was he never stopped humming. Repetitive wasn't a good enough word. If Krystal hadn't been there, McCloud would very likely have thrown that aggravating little earthwalker, or failing that himself, into the nearest available cave and blocked the entrance so thoroughly even air molecules would struggle to get through, let alone any humming.

As it was, he found himself so concerned with keeping the freezing cold vixen's spirits up that a total of just three homicidal thoughts crossed his mind the whole way back to the Hollow, and one of those was sparked by a particularly massive sharpclaw that demanded 25 scarabs before he'd let them enter the tunnel that formed the last section of the trip. Luckily, enough were lurking under nearby rocks to pay for passage. Laborious prying them out might have been, but it was infinitely preferable to fighting past the nine-foot dinosaur and his impossibly huge battleaxe.

Finally, though, they emerged onto a small grassy platform behind the crenellations of the age-old wall, right above the shop. A narrow wooden ladder led down to the Hollow proper, not that Tricky needed it. As soon as Fox had told him where his mother was to be found the young earthwalker had bounded clean over the top of the wall, landing lightly on the ground below with no apparent ill-effects, then hurtled off to be reunited with his dame. Fox and Krystal exchanged weary glances, then followed his lead in much more sedate style. Just as they reached the river, though, Tricky streaked back out of the scarab temple.

"We need to find some white grubtubs!" he pleaded, once he'd forded the river and rejoined the foxes. "They should heal Mom. They always healed me."

"Know where they are?" Fox asked, patiently.

"In the caves under that mound." Tricky nodded his head toward a small hillock very close to the ladder they'd just descended, a narrow stone archway set perfectly in the centre of it. "Should be plenty in there."

"Well, if they're as easy to catch as the blue ones, it shouldn't need two of us to do the job." Fox brought the gold Prophet Well token out of his backpack, twirled it thoughtfully in his hands. "That would leave one of us free to find out what this thing is all about, which in turn would save us a lot of time. Which would you prefer, milady?"

"I'll get the grubtubs," Krystal decided. "The exercise should warm me up nicely."

"Okay." McCloud slipped his pack from his shoulders, removed the fuel cells and dumbledang pods, and handed it to the vixen. "That should hold 'em all. I'll deal with the coin; Tricky, you stay with your mom. All happy with that?"

Tricky's answer was to leap straight back into the river, splashing away at speed. Krystal simply shouldered the pack, flashed a warm smile, then turned and padded lightly toward the hillock, tail swaying gently in time with the roll of her hips. Only once she'd vanished through the archway did Fox manage to pull his focus to his own tasks. Shaking his head, he piled the dumbledang pods, fuel cells and token up in his arms, and headed for the shallowest part of the river.

"That girl," he muttered to himself as he waded through the knee-deep water, "is too bewitching for my own good."

He dropped the pods near to his arwing, marking a riverside spot he felt suitable for a campsite, then slipped the fuel cells into the relevant opening one-by-one, leaving him with just the token. Gleaming golden disk in hand he jogged at an easy pace over to Warpstone, who looked even more imposing than ever in the fading evening light.

"Somethin' tells me ye wannae visit th' Maze," the statue burred, jovially.

"Nothing escapes you, eh big guy?" Fox grinned back, leaping onto the platform in front of the genial colossus.

"It's rare somethin' slips under ma nose, aye," Warpstone replied, tilting himself back to reveal the Maze entrance. "Like the way yer getting' so soft on yon lovely lady, for instance."

"I-I'm not getting soft on her," Fox protested, weakly. "I've-I've only known her a few hours."

"That's plenty long enough," Warpstone averred, sagely. "'Specially wi' a girl as beautiful as her."

"I like her for more than her looks, you know," Fox retorted before he could stop himself. "I mean…" He faded to an awkward silence.

"Ah, me – young love. 'Tis a grand thing," chortled Warpstone. "I wouldnae keep denyin' it if ah were you, Fox. Jes let it happen. Ye'll be glad ye did."

"I don't know what's madder," Fox drawled, padding down the numerous steps. "That I'm being given romantic advice by a talking statue, or that I'm actually tempted to follow it."

"Ye'd be mad not to, laddie," Warpstone called after him. "See ya on the other side."

"I hope that means there's a warp out of here," Fox murmured to himself. "I forgot to bring any string."

Fifty-two steps later, he found himself standing on a small wooden platform overlooking the Maze, a sprawling labyrinth of dark stone walls that filled the floor inside a gargantuan cathedral of a cave. A wooden ladder bridged the twenty-odd feet down to the start.

"This Prophet Well had better be something special," Fox grumbled, starting down the creaky ladder. "I wonder if Krys is finding things easier..."

"Kee-yaah!"

Krystal flung herself sideways with a yell, hoping to catch the white grubtub unawares, only for it to hop to one side inches before she reached it, leaving her to slide unceremoniously past and fetch up against the cave wall, a cloud of dust billowing up around her. She lay there thinking for a moment, on her stomach, one blue hand cupping her chin, the other drumming an irritated tune on the floor.

"All right – let's try Plan E…"

Fox McCloud was also flat on the floor, but not of his own volition. He'd strolled past a large green plant adhered to one wall, never for a moment expecting the bud at the centre to shoot out on its stem like a hook on a rappelling line and smack him with extreme force on the side of the face. Plants just didn't do that. Someone had obviously forgotten to tell that one, though. A little groggily, a frown creasing his face and one hand rubbing the growing bruise on his cheek, Fox hauled himself to his feet and sidled away from the projectile plant, not for the first time wondering what on Lylat he was getting himself into. Surviving this mission with all five limbs present and correct was going to be a challenge, to say the least.

Typically, though, right around the very next corner another one waited, poised to deliver a blow a heavyweight boxer would be proud of. This time, painfully aware of the literal punch these plants packed, Fox ducked low enough for it to miss as he ran past, feeling only a brief rush of wind as the bud shot over his back. This scene repeated itself several times over before McCloud finally reached a small square area not too far from the platform entrance to the Maze that contained a small white warp pad and the Prophet Well, which turned out to be utterly identical to the other two he'd found so far, and thus quite a disappointment. Still, he'd come this far…

He leant over the well and let the coin fall into the inky blackness, whereupon, after a moment of total silence, a hushed, whispering, softly echoing voice drifted up to him.

"Don't let her out of your sight, warrior, lest you lose her before you find her."

Fox blinked, initially making very little sense of the message. Then an image of a beautiful blue vixen flashed into his mind, and he was jumping for the warp pad…

Krystal strolled out of the mound archway, her backpack bulging with half-a-dozen white grubtubs, her fur and clothing caked in dark grey-brown dirt. Boy did she hope the damn things lived up to their billing, else a certain chirpy little earthwalker would find himself strung up by the tail over a pit of hungry sharpclaws, and that was just for starters. She waded into the shallow part of the river, making a beeline for the scarab temple, blissfully unaware of the nebulous swirl of shadows and mist trailing slowly in her wake…

Fox bloomed into place atop Warpstone's left hand, perfectly positioned to see both Krystal, just about to step out of the river, and a cloud of ceaselessly churning fog and darkness drifting ever closer to her. It clung to no discernible shape, flexing and shifting constantly, as unsettling an apparition as Fox had ever seen. The moment Warpstone's hand came to rest on the grass McCloud leapt over the stream and sprinted for all he was worth around to and through the blasted gap in the wall, whipping his staff from his back at the same time.

"Krystal! Behind you!" he bellowed, letting loose a trio of bolts. Two burned wide, but the third slammed right into the midst of the cloud, setting it afire with brilliant blue lightning. A harsh, breathy scream of pain and rage tore from its pulsing core before it vanished from sight like a flame being blown out.

Krystal had lost her footing and tumbled into the river at the shock of seeing the cloud and now sat up to her waist in the water, shaking and gasping, eyes locked on the spot it had occupied seconds before. She looked to be trying to speak, but nothing would come out. Fox splashed up to her, coaxed her to her feet, and drew her into a tight, protective embrace, stroking the back of her head as she buried her muzzle in his neck fur. Eventually the shivering faded, and she pulled her head back far enough to look at him, potent gratitude and warmth brimming in her bright blue eyes. Something else, too; something Fox was a little surprised to see there, and even more surprised to feel himself responding to. She started to close the gap between their muzzles, her head tilting to one side slightly, her eyelids drifting closed…

"Hey, Foooooooox! Kryyyyyystaaaaal! Where are those grubtubs?"

The vixen's head dropped abruptly, forehead coming to rest on Fox's breastbone, a huge sigh falling from her lips. "Right here, Tricky," she called back. "I'll bring them right over." She dropped her voice to a murmur. "If you hear any yelling or screaming, ignore it, okay?"

"Understood." Fox nodded. "Promise not to throttle him _too_ hard, though."

"I promise _nothing_."

Krystal set off for the scarab temple at a steady jog, leaving Fox to trudge out of the river and over to the camp he'd set up earlier. Now feeling a little too warm for comfort, he shed his boots and his flight suit, arranging the latter into a makeshift pillow on the grass. Clad in just his shorts he settled against a handy rock and set to chewing industriously on a dumbledang pod, sating a hunger that had been gnawing at him since they'd left the snowbound sharpclaw stronghold. At the same time he called up General Pepper on the holocom and briskly briefed the hound on the situation, careful to leave out or gloss over anything that even hinted at Krystal's existence. Pepper, impatient as ever, seemed less than impressed at Fox's progress, but grudgingly accepted that things couldn't really have moved any quicker. As he brusquely signed off, not waiting for a reply from McCloud, Krystal re-emerged from the temple.

"Well, that's the medicine administered," she reported, strolling casually up to her friend. "Now we have to drum our fingers until it works. If it works."

"Tricky seemed pretty convinced it would." Fox proffered a pod. "Supper?"

"I'll pass for the moment, thanks. In case you hadn't noticed, I _really_ need a wash." She quickly removed her headband, necklace and armbands, handing them to McCloud. A wicked grin flickered across her muzzle. "Feel free to join me, if you want."

"Fox." Peppy's smiling face bloomed into view right between the two foxes. "Care to tell me how you're doing?"

"These interruptions are really getting monotonous," Krystal mouthed, wading into the river.

"I'm doing fine, Pep," Fox answered, turning his attention fully to the hare. "Found the Queen Earthwalker, got her son back, and gave her some mushrooms to help cure her fever. Hopefully she'll be well enough to talk in the morning. Plus…I have company."

"Ah, you found her then?" Peppy's grin widened several notches.

"More like she found me," Fox replied, eyes drifting to the vixen in question, who had slipped out of her sandals, bikini top, bikini bottoms and loincloths and was now sitting cross-legged in the middle of the river rubbing dirt from her shoulders. "Caught me unawares."

"What's she like?" Peppy asked, sounding every inch the inquisitive parent. "Pretty?"

"Beautiful," Fox answered, with feeling, fully aware she could hear every word. "Absolutely _beautiful_ in every respect, inside and out."

"You like her then?" Peppy's face was almost split in half his grin was so wide by now.

"I can't deny I'm warming to her," Fox admitted, unable as always to hide anything from the fatherly hare. "It's rather hard _not_ to, not least because she has even less modesty that I do."

"Didn't think that was possible," Peppy chortled.

"Don't tell me you make a habit of running around your ship stark naked, Fox McCloud," Krystal teased, working the grime from her stomach fur.

"Not _stark_ naked – I do have my fur, ya know. Besides, it's not my fault people keep attacking us when I'm having a shower." Fox adjusted the holocom so it included the vixen in the conversation. "By the time I've got dried and/or dressed they could have done for us, so I simply don't bother."

"Makes perfect sense to me." Krystal lifted one leg out of the water to clean it. "I'd do exactly the same myself. In fact, I have done."

"Oh, I'm getting a _very_ good feeling about this," Peppy beamed, delight shining from his grey face. "Don't resist it, Fox."

"Resist what?" Fox enquired, feigning ignorance.

"You _know_ what," Peppy insisted, determinedly. "What you almost had once before, and _will_ have again, even if it kills me."

"I really hope you don't mean that, Pep. I've lost one father already. I _won't_ lose another."

"_Then let it in_. Peppy out." The hare's image shrank out of sight.

Fox's head sank onto his chest, his ears sagging, and a sigh drifting from his lips. He shifted to lie on his side, his head resting on his bundled-up flight suit, his eyes fixed on nothing in particular.

Concerned, Krystal rose to her feet and left the river, shaking herself a couple of times then moving over to sit beside Fox. He barely reacted, even when she rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Feel like talking awhile?" she asked, softly.

"Not tonight," Fox whispered back. "Some other night."

"I'll hold you to that," she warned him, playfully. "I like you too much to let you suffer in silence."

Leaving Fox to his melancholy thoughts she returned to the river to gulp down a few mouthfuls of water then sought out a secluded little corner in which to answer some natural calls, before returning to a now dozing McCloud, shaking out her thick fur a couple more times along the way. A quick bite or three of a dumbledang pod then, once satisfied her coat was dry enough, she settled down facing Fox and only an inch or two away from him. For a moment she was content to simply look at him, wonder how he could inspire such affection in her so quickly. The possibility of earlier seemed more and more likely the longer she spent with Fox, and it warmed her to think of it.

Weariness overcoming her, she pressed her lips ever-so-softly to his by way of bidding him a good night then let her eyelids droop closed and sleep start to claim her. Just before she slipped fully into slumber she felt his arms wrap themselves around her waist, clasping her closely, protectively to his wonderfully warm body. The sensation of it sent a sense of deep contentment and security washing through every last inch of her. The sleep that followed soon after was the most comfortable she'd enjoyed since long before it all went so horribly wrong…


	6. And Now it Really Begins

**Chapter 5**

**And Now it Really Begins**

Fox McCloud, hardened mercenary, was falling in love. No matter which way he looked at it, it was the only conclusion he could possibly come to. The beautiful cerulean blue vixen currently slumbering soundly in his arms was winning his heart, and with more ease and speed than he'd ever have believed possible. He'd known her but one day, and already he couldn't imagine life without her, couldn't conceive of an existence that didn't include her forever close by his side. And yet…

And yet, a poisonous little voice in the depths of his mind reminded him, he'd felt like this before, and had it all torn away from him. The wound still smarted several years later, just as those inflicted by the loss of his parents still smarted more than ten years later, apparently never to fully heal. Chances were, the voice insisted, he'd be adding another one to his collection if he didn't resist. And yet…

And yet, he could just have found the perfect balm for his emotional scars, the one salve that could finally soothe the hurt. Wasn't it, she, worth all the risk and more? His heart screamed 'yes'; the voice hissed 'no'; his mind threatened to split in two…

"Fox!"

McCloud groaned involuntarily; as if this little emotional dichotomy wasn't a bad enough start to a day… At least the General didn't know about Krystal – that would be beyond what he could tolerate.

"Fox," Pepper repeated, gruffly, the hound's face cast in a frown of deep disapproval, "Who's the girl?"

Oh, yes. The holocom was still set to include both him and Krystal in any conversations. How could he have forgotten that little detail? Fox found himself replying in what was almost a snarl.

"A friend. We're dealing with this together."

"No, you're not." Pepper's tone and expression were uniformly hard and implacable. "Get her out of there, Fox. _Now_."

"No." Fox was really growling now, anger misting his vision red. "She stays. I _can't_ do this without her."

"You _can_. You _will_." Pepper insisted, firmly, levelly, calmly. "She's a liability. Lose her."

"No."

"_Lose her_."

"_No_."

"Lose her, Fox! She'll be more pain than she's worth."

"She's worth _any_ pain. _Any_."

"You're not thinking clearly, Fox. You're getting emotional. Get rid of her before you get too involved and the mission's ruined."

"Getting rid of her would ruin the mission_,_ Pepper!" Fox was shouting now, seething with fury and frustration fuelled by an awful feeling of déjà vu. "There's _no way_ I can do this alone!"

The General didn't budge an inch. "You've managed superbly before; you'll manage superbly again. Get her off the planet, Fox, and forget all about her, and you'll be far better for it."

"Impossible." Fox's voice had dropped to a pained whisper. "I still can't forget _Fara_… Can't forget I made her kill herself…"

Pepper's iron mask wavered for a second, a tiny trace of pain breaking through. "You didn't, Fox. How were you to know so was so unstable?"

"SHE WASN'T!" McCloud screamed, his restraint finally deserting him. "She wasn't…not until _I_ left her without a word of explanation. _I_ drove her mad… _I killed her_…"

Fox was actually weeping now, damp streaks running down both his cheeks, tortured afresh by the memories. Krystal, shocked awake by his scream, only half-understanding what was going on, rolled onto her back, gently pulling Fox down to her, cuddling his head into her chest and throwing herself into doing her utmost to comfort him. Her quizzical, accusing eyes fixed on the hologram of Pepper.

The General sighed deeply. "She _was_ unstable, Fox. I checked her records afterwards. She suffered a huge amount of bullying throughout her childhood, which left her teetering on the edge. A misplaced word could have pushed her over." Another heavy sigh. "If it's any consolation, I blame myself as much as you do yourself. I was too intent on following James' instructions to think of the side-effects."

Fox's eyes snapped wide, gazing in stupefied incredulity at the hound. "My father's orders?"

"He left me instructions just before he set off for Venom," Pepper explained. "Made me swear to follow them, no matter what. You see, Fox, he considered himself incredibly lucky in finding Vixy, and desperately wanted you to find someone just as perfect, and decided I was the one to help ensure you did. I didn't agree with his logic, but I couldn't refuse him, either. You've no idea how much it hurt to push you, Fox, especially after Fara's suicide."

"About as much as it did to be pushed, I'd think," Fox responded, now much more in control of himself. "I believe I owe you an apology, General; I should've seen my father had something to do with it all. It's got his uncompromising style written all over it."

"Wasn't that taking it a bit far?" Krystal asked, letting her muzzle drop to rest between McCloud's ears.

"Not for him, no," Fox answered, a tint of affection creeping into his tone. "He wasn't afraid of hurting people if he was convinced it would do them good in the long run, and he wouldn't dither over doing it, either. A cooler head I've never known."

"Certainly wasn't one for letting doubt creep in," Pepper agreed. "If he thought it was the right course of action, he'd do it without hesitation, regardless of what pain it might cause. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, he'd be right. The odd time he was wrong, he'd be just as quick to admit it and set about setting things right. He'd have made a damn fine commander."

"You're forgetting – he did." Fox was actually smiling now. "Just not in a Cornerian uniform. He was only ever gonna be his own master."

"He sounds remarkable," Krystal observed. A very warm smile spread across her pastel face as she gazed at Fox. "Must be a family trait."

"Certainly my mother was," McCloud confirmed, his ears colouring slightly. "I'm still working on it. You, however, are already there. How else could I be falling for you so quickly?"

"That'll be my cue to fade politely from the conversation," Pepper decided, his hologram suiting the action to the words.

"Deep desperation born of overpowering loneliness?" Krystal suggested, mischievously. "At least, that's my excuse."

"Undoubtedly a large part of it," Fox replied, fully aware she'd been referring to herself as much as him. "But not all. Nowhere near all."

"How long has it been since you enjoyed someone's company?" the vixen enquired, softly stroking his ear with the fingers of one hand, and the small of his back with those of the other.

"That'll be forever," Fox answered, honestly. A wry grin stole onto his lips. "Sounds odd for a merc to say that, I know, but one thing I did inherit from my father was a strong sense of self-sufficiency. Although, what with you being so ridiculously attractive and all, and the tingles currently running through my ear and back, the idea of a little help in the matter is certainly becoming more and more appealing."

Krystal, chuckling heartily, nestled her snout close against his, her voice dropping to a murmur. "You're not alone. In any of it. If you were to start kissing me now I'd be yours in seconds, I just know it."

"And I'd be yours a second before that," Fox told her, rubbing his muzzle softly against hers. "I'm barely holding myself back as it is…"

"Then don't. Let yourself go. Just be gentle …"

"Oh, I'd be as gentle as a summer zephyr, but…"

"But…?" Krystal ceased stroking his ear and starting mouthing it instead, the hand joining its partner in caressing his back fur.

"But…but…" Fox looked into the most magical, most beguiling, most bewitching eyes he'd ever known, and gave in. "Oh, forget it."

He started kissing delicately at the fur of her throat, working his way gradually up her muzzle, while his hands stroked along her sides from shoulder to hip, luxuriating in the silken feel of her. Krystal's fingers drifted closer and closer to the hem of his shorts, her touch both velvet soft and truly electric. Fox shifted forward an inch or two, slid his eager mouth slowly down over hers…

"Hey Fox, I…I…III think you're gonna kill me…"

Frozen in position, lips a fraction of an inch apart, McCloud and Krystal snapped their eyes sharply to the left, to behold the holo-head of a goggle-eyed, guilty and utterly-convinced-he-was-an-ex-toad Slippy.

"Would you like me to mince myself right now," the amphibian continued, in a uniquely doomed tone of voice, "or would you be kind enough to let me say goodbye to my spanner collection first?"

Fox and Krystal slowly, carefully disentangled themselves from one another, sat up, smoothed their fur down as best they could, exchanged a glance, and dissolved in gales of helpless laughter. This was most definitely _not_ the reaction Slippy had been expecting.

"Oh, oh, oh – did I need that!" Fox, defiantly back to himself, regarded Slippy with something that could be called affection, while Krystal set about dressing. "Not only do you stop us from doing something we _definitely_ would have regretted, not least for the acute embarrassment it would undoubtedly have led to, but you give us the best laugh we've had since we got here as well! I owe you some serious thanks, Slip."

"Oh, uh, no problem. I think." Hope suddenly rose in Slippy's outsize eyes. "Does this mean I don't have to mince myself, then?"

"What, and deprive me of the best damn mechanic and inadvertent comedy relief in the Lylat system?" Fox grinned. "Don't even _think_ about it. Now, what were you calling for?"

"Oh, nothing important. Just to let you know of a visitor we had this morning. He's on his way down to you now. Should only be a few minutes."

McCloud's grin grew to maniac proportions. "Oh-ho-ho-ho, yes! Today just keeps getting better and better and better!"

"Hey, Fox! Mom's all better!"

If holograms could jump, Slippy's would've leapt a mile. "Who in the heck was that?"

"Prince Tricky, biggest pain in the butt in the entire Lylat System. He's one of the reasons I – we – owe you thanks."

"Ahh…" Slippy's holo-head nodded understanding. "Gotcha. I'll leave ya to it, then. Gotta get back to work on the showers – almost fixed 'em."

"Boy, you're racking up the brownie points today. See ya, Slip."

"See ya."

By now Krystal was fully dressed, and Tricky was skidding to an exuberant halt in front of them. A short way further back the Queen Earthwalker plodded unhurriedly out of the river, not entirely steady on her feet, but unquestionably looking better than the last time Fox had seen her. Those white grubtubs must've been pretty potent, he mused…

"Good morning, your Majesties," he greeted them, expansively, pulling on his flight suit as he spoke. "At the risk of sounding impolite, can we get down to business, as it were? No time wasted, and all that."

"My thoughts exactly." The Queen agreed, her manner pleasingly no-nonsense. "To the best of my understanding, Scales took the SpellStones so he can hold the planet to ransom – the only way to get it back together would be to let him become ruler."

"Ah, don't you just love the simple thinking of a megalomaniac?" Fox shouldered his pack. "Our goal, then, is to get the SpellStones back. Nice and easy. Any idea where he'd keep them?"

"On those floating chunks – only he can get to them, as only he has the Keys that let you through the protective fields, or so he'd like to think."

"Duplicates?"

"Very well hidden ones. Those who looked after the Stones – the Gatekeepers – are the only ones who know where the copy Keys are hidden. Scales is probably trying to beat it out of one or two of them as we speak."

"Okay – that makes things a touch more problematic." Fox rubbed his chin as he mulled it all over. "But not impossible. Anything else?"

"Just the name of the first Gatekeeper – me."

"I was hoping you'd say that. Once we're all here, you can tell us where the Key's hidden."

"At the risk of sounding dumb – all here?" Krystal asked.

"Minute or two at most." Fox's eyes were fixed on the cloud-flecked skies, searching intently.

"Featherbrain to Furball," called a supremely confident – some might say supremely cocky – voice over Fox's com. "The ego is landing."

Just as the voice faded out a small Cornerian cargo ship murmured into view over the treetops, gunmetal grey in colour, angular and squat in shape, its cockpit blacked out. A more anonymous transport could hardly be imagined.

"Furball to Featherbrain," Fox transmitted back, his eyes sparkling, his tail dancing. "Nice craft, but isn't it a bit…I dunno…ordinary for you?"

"Featherbrain to Furball – I'm egotistical, not stupid!"

"Point taken."

The cargo ship came in to land alongside Fox's Arwing, which could just about have fitted inside it, and the huge bay door slowly dropped. A solitary figure strode, oozing confidence, to the top of the ramp the lowered door had created, his bright blue and red feathers contrasting sharply with his dark grey flight suit, boots and duster. His sharp yellow beak twisted into a cocksure grin as he surveyed the four creatures arrayed before him, savouring his moment in the limelight. Very quickly, though, his dark blue eyes came to rest on Fox, definite warmth in them.

"Heard you were in the neighbourhood. Mind if I join in the fun?"

"What, so you can steal all my glory?" Fox jibed, pacing up the ramp toward the avian.

"Well, yeah," came the straight-faced reply. "I mean, I'm hardly here for the money."

"Five years away from the fold, and he ain't changed one little bit." Fox paused in front of the colourful new arrival, paws on hips, regarding him with his head cocked slightly to one side. "And _damn_ am I glad of it!"

A second later they were embracing tightly, lost in the euphoria of seeing one another again. When they finally parted, Fox was quick to lead him down to the others, make succinct introductions, appraise him of the situation, and set about making plans, all the while feeling more confident and more like himself than he had since his brother-in-all-but-blood had left to seek his fortune. Once again the System's best wingman was by his side, where he belonged, and all felt right with the world.

Falco Lombardi was back.


	7. Key Number One

**Chapter 6**

**Key Number One**

Krystal stood with her hands resting on hips lightly leaning to one side, her head cocked to the other, and her tail twitching softly as she regarded with acute curiosity and more than a touch of genuine excitement what the Queen Earthwalker's directions had led Fox and her to. She'd been fully expecting to find another prime example of the chunky, angular, geometrically patterned architecture so prevalent throughout Dinosaur Planet, a suitably imposing and portentous portal in the mountainside for them to venture into, so to be presented with what now stood before them was both a mild disappointment and a refreshing surprise.

It was a simple wooden door, set perfectly flush with the unnaturally smooth cliff face, and on a relatively petite scale (just the right size for Fox and her, curiously enough) that really didn't chime with anything else she'd encountered thus far – too large to be of Lightfoot origin, and too small to be the handiwork of anything else. The question of who _had_ been responsible was disarmingly straightforward, though, courtesy of the beautifully worked, beatifically peaceful vulpine face situated right in the centre of the door, composed of numerous tiny, warm tan inlays laid into the rich brown surface. It seemed, to the spellbound vixen, decidedly female, and strangely familiar...

Shaking off a small flurry of memories that no longer held the warmth they should have done she turned to McCloud, to find the mercenary still, as he had been for the last few minutes, deeply engaged in energetic and to her impenetrable conversation with Falco via his holocom. He was sans his white jacket in anticipation of the heat they were expecting to encounter (all the Queen Earthwalker knew of the place was that it was liable to be quite warm...and possibly a tad cramped) and had also forgone his gloves, explaining that not only did they get more than a little itchy in high temperatures but they hindered his grip, too. She did wonder if there were more to it than that, not least since he'd seen fit to proffer an explanation in the first place...

She herself had decided to do without her loincloth and jewellery, and was genuinely tempted to shed the bikini once they were inside, too, reasoning that if this mountain was what she strongly suspected it to be even such minimal garb would quickly prove uncomfortable. The sight of the inlaid face served to strengthen the impulse, since it gave rise to many innocent, unfettered memories that, through the lens of her hard solo years, seemed to belong to someone else entirely, someone she was increasingly afraid she'd never see again. As dear Tricky (the little pain was pretty much guaranteed to do or say something inadvertent that would leave her feeling awkward and discomfited) had opted to remain with his mother in the Hollow, that just left the ubiquitous Sharpclaws to worry about, since for some odd reason the idea of facing off against one or more of those grunting brutes while in the fur didn't particularly appeal to her …

"We should be out by midday at the latest – I'll check back with you then; make sure you're somewhere secure. Fox out." Fox slipped the holocom into his backpack, then turned to smile at the vixen. "Something on your mind?"

Krystal nodded toward the arch. "Think there'll be any scaly trouble lurking in there?"

"Unless that teleport trick of theirs can send them through solid rock, which I strongly doubt, no. Why? Thinking of travelling even lighter?"

Krystal felt her cheeks heat up slightly – was she that readable? "Yes, actually. How'd you guess?"

"I'd like to say it's because of my innate talent for deductive reasoning and infallible observational skills, but, eh…" Fox flashed a grin. "You keep fiddling with your strap."

"Oh!" the blush deepened sharply. "Don't even know what my own hand's doing…"

Fox chuckled softly, then jerked his head lightly toward the door. "Let's find a way to open this and get inside, then you can tell me why you're so willing to trust me."

"All right." Krystal nodded lightly, surprising herself with how quick she was to agree. "Any ideas...?"

"You could ask," Fox suggested, mischievously.

Krystal giggled, and turned to address the vulpine image in the most formal, courteous tone she could muster. "May we please be permitted ingress, milady?"

"But of course," the face responded, equally politely, though her smiling mouth didn't move in the slightest. "I've been waiting for you."

"Wha...?" Krystal's jaw dropped so low it nearly brushed the ground. "Y...y...you _have_...?"

"Oh, yes." The door, with no hint of anything unlocking, swung silently inwards, revealing a compact, tidy rectangle of a chamber. A fat wooden chest sat to the left of the room, and a sleek, feminine statue stood to the right, with a second, near-identical door directly ahead. "Please, enter..."

The foxes exchanged wide-eyed glances, shrugged in near-perfect unison, then Krystal led the way into the torch-lit chamber, walking slowly up to the statue, drinking in every detail. It was life-sized and genuinely beautiful, a lovingly detailed rendition of a shapely female vulpine in gleaming white marble, wearing only lushly-depicted fur and standing with head and ears cocked attentively and hands held lightly behind her back, resting just above the base of a particularly luxuriant tail. The cerulean vulpine traced the contours of the statue's delicate face with a finger, more rose-tinted memories drifting through her mind...

"Do I remind you of someone?"

Krystal started slightly, then her ears flushed pink; she really should be used to talking, moving statues by now, though admittedly none of the others had been anyway near as...distracting. "Yes," she answered, a little self-consciously, a little wary about sharing this particular part of her past. "Jade..."

"Pretty name." Like the inlaid face, the statue's mouth didn't move at all, although Krystal was pretty certain the smile widened slightly. "Now, I assume you two are here to recover the Key?"

"That's the plan," Fox answered, resting his hand on Krystal's shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture.

"Then please place all of your belongings in the chest, and we can proceed."

Fox's eyebrow rose. "Define 'all our belongings'."

"Everything you are currently carrying, and wearing."

"_Wearing_?" Both of McCloud's eyebrows were now making a beeline for the top of his head. "As in, our clothes?"

"Yes."

"Well, that kinda solves your little dilemma for ya," he joked to Krystal, rubbing the back of his head with one paw.

"Pretty comprehensively, yes," she agreed, cheerfully, stepping out of her sandals.

"Any particular reason for us to be doing this in our birthday suits?" Fox asked the statue, not making any move to undress.

"It is to ensure that all you have to rely on in getting the Key is each other," the statue responded, sounding uncannily like the computerised training modules he'd worked with during his relatively brief Academy stint.

"And will we get it all back afterwards?" he queried, still far from decided.

"Everything of use will be returned to you upon completion."

"Of use?" That sounded an internal alarm – she'd employed much too subjective a turn of phrase for his liking. "What do you mean, of use?"

"Well, everything you have is of use, so why worry?" a positively beaming Krystal piped up, practically bouncing up and down in excited anticipation. "Besides, I have a feeling this could be a whole lot of fun."

Fox eyed her askance for a moment, wondering at her sudden, drastic improvement in mood, before his curiosity finally got the better of his self-consciousness. "Ah, what the heck," he chuckled, wryly, kicking off his boots. "You only live once. Just give me a mo..."

His beautiful blue companion was by his side so fast he couldn't be sure he'd actually seen her move. "Allow me."

"I think I can manage a simple zip," he responded, good-naturedly, beginning to wonder just how incompetent she thought he was.

Dancing blue eyes stared into his. "Humour me."

He found himself powerless to resist, simply nodding, and feeling his cheeks warm as she smoothly freed him of his flight suit and shorts, fully expecting his body to embarrass him. To his immense relief, it didn't, even when Krystal turned away from him, gazing coquettishly over one shoulder.

"Your turn."

Fox blinked. He was definitely missing something here. As his hands unhooked the button holding her top in place, and rippled it lightly away from her chest, he began to get an inkling of what, though he had a little trouble believing it; the coincidence was just too much, surely. A playful swat on the hip from her tail brought him sharply back to reality, and left him with no excuse not to set about sliding her bikini bottoms down her legs, whereupon she daintily stepped out of them, giving him a polite smile and nod of thanks at the same time.

Then she shook out her fur from head to tail-tip to toe-tips, a long, shimmying, dancing movement that she took immense delight in, a massive smile curving her slim muzzle, and that caused McCloud's brain to momentarily fog over. A blissful sigh drifting from her lips, she paused to smooth her brilliant blue coat out, both paws sliding along her gentle curves, then she bent over the chest, neatly arranging their few clothes and belongings inside, bushy brush aquiver with motion the entire time. That was when Fox's body finally reacted how he'd feared it would, his reddening ears folding back against his skull as he reprimanded himself internally.

Krystal naturally couldn't avoid noticing the moment she span back round to face him, but her reaction surprised him – a knowing, understanding chuckle, and a step forward to enfold him in a close and cosseting hug, her chin coming to rest on his shoulder.

"I really doubt that'll help much," he told her, unable to stop his arms wrapping around her velvet form, even if he'd wanted to. "Quite the opposite, actually..."

"You'd be surprised," was her simple, quietly cryptic reply. "Just give it a minute..."

Fox acquiesced, a touch reluctantly and far from convinced, as the feeling of the soft pillows pressed tight against his chest, and the snug fur enveloping highly sensitive parts of him, and those tender paws ever-so-lightly tousling his back initially only made things worse, all kinds of intimate tableaus stealing unbidden into his mind. Quietly desperate, he conjured up the most disturbing, depraved and downright disgusting images he could possibly imagine – death, destruction, Slippy in a thong bikini – but none of them had any appreciable effect; Krystal's allure was just too strong.

The vixen shifted slightly just then, and he suddenly became aware of two pert little points nestled amongst the closely blended fur of their upper bodies, triggering the oddly reassuring realisation that he wasn't alone. Moreover, his companion seemed not at all perturbed by her arousal, as if it were a perfectly natural thing, which, upon reflection, it was, which in turn set him to wondering why he'd been quite so ashamed of his in the first place, and once he'd found no decent reason, he suddenly realised it wasn't even an issue any more. Fox couldn't help but chuckle inwardly.

Leaning back slightly, he gazed at the lovely vulpine lady he held for a few silent moments, several things clicking into place, and his regard and respect for her increasing dramatically. "You're magic – you know that?" he told her, in a murmur so fervent and affectionate it surprised him to hear it coming from his lips, lips he impulsively pressed against hers for several seconds, a caressing contact she resisted not in the slightest. When he drew back again, she made no reply, simply smiling at him from under shyly lidded eyes, the guileless innocent she usually kept so well hidden beneath wit and ability brought fully to the surface, seemingly as entranced by him as he was by her...

"Are we ready?" The smooth voice of the statue broke the spell, both foxes turning to face it without leaving each other's arms. They nodded in almost perfect unison. "Good." The inner door swung silently open, revealing a smoothly descending tunnel. "You won't see me again until you have the Key. Farewell."

"For now." Krystal, without waiting for any kind of go ahead from Fox, slipped from his grasp and strode into the passage, tail high, ears perked and eyes sparkling.

A much more at ease Fox McCloud hurried to catch up, falling into place alongside her, unable to help admiring the fluid grace with which she moved. "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?" he enquired, returning to his earlier, increasingly less unlikely supposition.

"I know what this is." The vixen rubbed her hands together, looking more and more like a gleeful cub. "Or, at least, what this is very much like – a Cheria."

"Go on," Fox prompted, genuinely interested.

"It's an old – and barely used these days, sadly – Cerinian bonding custom," Krystal explained, speaking quite rapidly in her excitement. "A series of challenges and puzzles designed to strengthen the attachment and the understanding between two people, usually soon-to-be-mated couples."

"Suddenly the whole in-the-fur thing starts to make a little sense," McCloud observed with a smile. "It's all about trust..."

"Exactly!" Krystal nodded energetically.

"And I'm guessing this won't be the first time you've participated in one?" Fox posited, conversationally.

"Nope." Krystal confirmed, ignoring the not inconsiderable temptation to change the subject – if there was anyone she could be open about this with, it was Fox McCloud. "I did one with Jade just before...just before everything changed – Father thought the best way for us to find out about them, fascinated as we were, was to do one. I remember it mostly for being the day I finally worked up the courage to tell her I loved her."

"And got a response in kind, I hope?"

"Oh, yes – she kissed me." The smile that she gave then was something to behold. "My first real kiss; and my last, as it turned out." Her eyes dimmed slightly at the memory, though only for a moment, as Fox leaned over to nuzzle her cheek.

"Don't be so sure," he countered, playfully. "I dare say there are plenty of guys and girls who wouldn't hesitate to lock lips with you, given half a chance."

"Would a certain russet-gold vulpine currently not a million miles from me be amongst that number?" Krystal enquired, bumping her hip lightly against his and flashing an impish grin. "Because he's just about the only person _with_ half a chance."

"Maaaaybe," Fox answered, evasively, finding the vixen's upbeat, mischievous mood more than a little infectious. "Although, there is a tall, handsome canine I've known since my Academy days I've always quietly hoped to get closer to, so..."

"Oh?" Krystal was positively agog. "Really?"

"Well...oh, hello..." The passage was starting to level out, and ahead of them a sizeable rectangular chamber was visible...the other side of a heavy iron portcullis. Helpfully, a foot-square floor switch sat ready and waiting right in front of the impressively solid barrier. "Why do I get the sneaking suspicion this isn't as straightforward as it looks?"

Stepping onto the switch proved him right – it didn't sink beyond half way, even when he jumped high and slammed all his weight as hard as he could onto it. Obviously it needed a little extra persuasion, to which end he stepped up to Krystal, looped his arms around her back to take solid hold of her bottom, then lifted the amused but unresisting vixen off her feet and carried her over to the switch. Their combined weight was enough to push it fully down, triggering a sharp click and a guttural rumble as the portcullis slowly rose.

"Nice an' easy!" Fox grinned, padding into the room once the gate had risen enough, his blue companion still in his arms.

"You could have just asked, you know," Krystal remarked, conversationally, her arms curled loosely around McCloud's neck, and her lively face a mere inch from his, perfectly content to stay where she was.

"Ah, where's the fun in that?" Fox grinned hugely, stopping in front of an inordinately tall vertical rectangle of patterned tiles set into one wall. "Now, something tells me this not-so-little puzzle has a lot to do with opening that other portcullis blocking the way out. Any suggestions?"

"Let me see." Krystal, rather than drop from McCloud's hold, simply wriggled around to his right side, Fox shifting his grip to match, so she was now sitting on one of his arms, the other bracing it firmly. Resting her chin on his shoulder, her arms looped around his waist, she regarded the tiles in silence for a moment. "Well, they need to be rearranged, I'm sure of that," she observed, eventually, "but exactly _how_..."

She stretched out a hand, running it over the smooth surface of one of the plates, noting how it gave a little under her touch. Pressing it on was rewarded by a soft click, and the tile sliding back to a much more raised position, making it easy to remove. Doing so, she found it weighed very little – about as much as her loincloth, she estimated – and had been carved with a skill and finesse no dinosaur was even remotely capable of.

"Okay – that solves that." She set the tablet back in place. "Which just leaves us to work out what the pattern is, and make it."

"Pattern – easy; it's a vixen, in the same pose as the statue. Making it..." Fox's gaze travelled up the full eight feet of tiles. "A little trickier."

"Not necessarily," Krystal disagreed. "As long as you can keep your feet nice and solid, and maybe give me a little boost, we should be fine."

Cottoning on, McCloud spread his legs a little, ensuring his feet were as firmly planted as possible, then gave the vixen a nod, grinning expectantly. She didn't disappoint; pushing herself upwards with a hand on his head and a foot on his bracing arm she practically sprang into sitting on his shoulder, legs either side of him, Fox leaning to one side to counterbalance her weight as best he could. From there, both her paws firmly planted between his ears, she span round to sit fully on both shoulders, much like a child riding on a parent. More height was needed, though, so the gymnastic vulpine tilted herself to one side just enough to fold her left leg into a crouching position on McCloud's shoulder, hands solidly clamped onto his skull the whole time, then repeated the movement for her right. A pause to ensure her companion was comfortable and that they both were stable, then she slowly, smoothly stood up, arms spreading out like she was on a balancing beam.

"You know, I could have just knelt down for you to climb up," Fox grinned up at her, the view he now had hardly unsettling or discomfiting him at all, to his quiet delight.

"Ah, where's the fun in that?" she shot back with just as broad a grin, detaching a tile from the upper-right corner. "Catch!"

A chuckling McCloud comfortably caught the slab she dropped and swapped it for one near the bottom of the grid he was pretty certain belonged on the top row. This tablet he lobbed carefully straight up, whereupon Krystal snatched it up and clicked it smartly into place. Five seconds later another tile fell into his waiting arms. The routine repeated itself in amicable silence, growing smoother and more assured with each repetition, until the first three rows were complete, showing the depicted female fox, who was indeed a dead ringer for the statue, down to her shoulders.

Fox barely had time to catch breath, though, as Krystal subsided gently into a crouch, her lower belly just brushing the top and back of his head (a pleasant sensation indeed, since her fur was especially fine, dense and soft right there, and, initially at least, mildly distracting, as his brain insisted on reminding him of what lay hidden beneath said fine, dense and soft fur, a thought that almost caused his body to discomfit him again) and a moment later was passing a new tile down to him. Shaking his head clear of unwanted thoughts, he took the plate, swapped it for another, and handed that one to the vixen.

Another three rows passed almost twice as quickly as the initial trio, since Krystal could now hand a slab down as he passed one up, the vulpine image swiftly extending to waist level. The pause this time was quite lengthy, however, as once the vixen had settled into sitting on his shoulders, legs dangling down his chest, hands resting between his ears, she gazed at the engraving for some moments, her cerulean eyes distant and tinged with moisture. Fox stayed awkwardly silent, unsure about interrupting, even though he knew dwelling on what she had to be dwelling on wasn't wise.

"Give her green fur and that's her," Krystal murmured, barely audibly, her liquid voice tinged with a bittersweet wistfulness. "If I didn't know better, I..." She shook her head abruptly, and fairly violently. "No – no point dwelling." A deep sigh heaved from her lungs. "Next puzzle piece, then."

Fox reached one hand up to grasp and gently squeeze her fingers for a moment, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile at the same time, and was relieved to get a grateful one in response, along with a reciprocal press of his paw. Rapidly regaining her lively mood, Krystal leant forward to detach the next tile in the sequence, the bottom of her breasts brushing an area just above McCloud's eyebrows in the process. Another twitch running through his treacherous body, an uncharitable part of him began to wonder if she wasn't doing all this on purpose, as some kind of evil experiment into exactly how much teasing and tormenting he could take before he cracked and pinned her between him and the nearest available hard surface...

Internally slapping himself he focused firmly on the tile grid, exchanging slabs with his companion until just one remained to click into place. Barely had Krystal taken hold of it, however, than it was slipping from her grip and clattering to the floor.

"Butterfingers," she chastised herself, rolling her eyes. She looked down at Fox. "Could you take a few steps back and lean your head to one side, please?"

One eyebrow lifting, Fox did exactly that, returning her look with a knowing smirk. "This should be entertaining."

Krystal grinned impishly. "Thank you. Now hold still." Settling both her hands between his inquisitively perked ears, she eased herself smoothly round to sit on his shoulder, McCloud shifting his posture to match. "And now back, if you'd be so kind."

"As you wish, Milady," Fox responded, with deliberately studied courtesy, tilting his head back until his nose was pointing at the chamber ceiling.

The vixen shifted round again, so she ended up facing the opposite way to McCloud, the underside of his muzzle pressed against her belly. There she paused long enough to stroke the fingers of her left paw along his snout from tip to base, a gently wry smile curving her lips. "Thank you kindly, Milord."

Before he had a chance to respond, had he even wanted to, she leant smoothly backwards, hands hooked around the back of his head. Almost without thinking about it he put his paws to the front of her thighs, bracing them against his shoulders, allowing her to release her grip and gracefully unroll further. As she approached being fully stretched out, and therefore completely upside-down, he simultaneously dipped his torso forward and allowed her legs to slip down. The instant the vixen's now outstretched paws contacted the floor (by no coincidence whatsoever, either side of the errant tile) he let go of her entirely, and watched in silent admiration as she snatched up her prize and gymnastically flipped herself over and onto her feet, facing toward Fox and away from the puzzle. Leaning against the latter, she reached over her shoulder to click the final piece into place, then regarded the former with affectionate amusement, head cocked slightly to one side.

"He's open, friendly, witty, smart, non-judgemental, honourable, painfully polite, tolerant to a frankly ridiculous degree, and able to anticipate and adapt to practically every move I make," she observed, wryly, in little more than a murmur, "and he wonders why I'm so willing to trust him."

Fox actually felt himself blushing at this, to the point it probably coloured his cheek fur pink. "Well, I...I..." he began, hesitantly, not at all sure how to respond.

Krystal chuckled softly, strolling over to him, catching hold of his hand and leading him toward the now open portcullis. "Oh, yes – he's annoyingly modest, as well. Now," she switched tack abruptly, an expression of intense curiosity overtaking her face. "About that tall, handsome canine you mentioned...?"

Fox blinked and stuttered, caught so unawares it took a moment for his brain to adjust. "His name was Bill," he responded, eventually. "Bill Grey. We met the very first day of the Academy, and despite my rather single-minded and usually morose attitude to life at the time – my mother had been killed in an attempt on my father's life less than two years before I started – we became fast friends inside a month. Within two we were close as brothers." His voice grew softer, a hint of wistfulness creeping in. "We could, very easily, have become even closer still, but somehow...somehow we never quite did.

"We went very different ways after the Academy; so different we barely ever meet up these days, and even then it's always strictly business. Still, there is a part of me that likes to entertain the odd 'what if' about him from time to time." A smile started to creep back onto his face. "Less and less of late, though."

"Something else we have in common," Krystal observed, gently, once she was sure he'd finished. "We seem to be remarkably alike."

"In history, at least," Fox concurred. His eyes flicked ahead for a moment, and his ears promptly snapped upright. "Typical – just when things were really starting to get cosy."

Immediately ahead of them the passage split into two, one curving gently right and down, the other left and up. It looked very much like they'd return to the path of the original, but one on top of the other.

"I'll take the left, you the right?" Fox suggested, possibly a touch too abruptly, thinking that the sooner they parted, the sooner they got back together.

Krystal, of very similar mind, nodded obediently and set off at a smart pace into the right-hand fork. Almost immediately she found herself face to face with yet another portcullis, and no visible means of opening it. Ten to one the unlocking mechanism was in the upper passage...with Fox...

"Blast it," she groaned, dragging a paw over her face. Quiet resignation set in. "I hope he doesn't skin me for this..."

Taking a breath to focus, she uncorked the bottle she'd kept her mind inside for longer than she cared to remember and allowed it to gently reach out and up. It took a little effort, rusty as she was, to probe through the thick layer of rock above her, but once beyond it she found herself magnetically drawn to a powerful presence that could only be Fox McCloud, one as strong and forceful as any she'd known, yet oddly unfocused. Also oddly unguarded, as with an abruptness that startled her she gained egress and was instantly immersed in a vivid McCloud memory...

_Her mind's eyes gazed through those of a noticeably younger and visibly agitated Fox as he lay on a bed in what looked to be a private infirmary room, his attention switching repeatedly back and forth between the door and a greatly wound-up, thickly grey-furred, floppy-eared canine sitting right beside him. Both wore plain grey-and-black flight suits, worn and faded and torn from heavy use, and were animatedly discussing the ground combat simulation they'd just completed, which had proven distinctly more dangerous than either of them had expected._

"_I'm telling you that wretched drone was after you," the dog insisted. "There is no way it showing up damn near every place we holed up is a coincidence. No way."_

"_I'm not doubting that," Fox assured him. "I've got six separate cuts to back you up. I'm just wondering how the hell it had a knife, and how it was tracking me."_

"_Something on your suit, or your headset, or hell, even something you ate." The canine suggested. "Many ways to plant a bug."_

"_We'll just have to search you thoroughly, then," interjected an authoritative new voice, that of a female ringtail stepping smartly through the door. "You can do that while I gel Mr McCloud's cuts, Mr Grey – there should be a scanner on the trolley, there."_

"_Yes, Ma'am." Bill took it, nodding obediently._

"_I do like a well-trained cadet." The ringtail flashed a smile, then fixed her attention firmly on Fox, who was wrestling his way out of what the cadets less-than-affectionately nicknamed a skin. The smile widened. "Didn't even need to ask."_

_Now wearing just his undershorts Fox handed the suit to Bill then lay back, hands by his sides. "No point worrying about modesty in a hospital."_

"_Right – most of the cuts are superficial enough to just use Gel-1, but that one across your lower stomach is quite deep, Mr McCloud," the medic commented, after a moment's visual examination. "I'll need to use Gel-2 or even 3 for that, and it __will__ sting."_

"_All right." Fox nodded, remaining perfectly calm, even when the efficient hands of the ringtail eased his shorts a couple of inches lower in order to properly access and treat the worst injury._

"_Got ya, ya little bastard!" Bill exclaimed, the scanner hovering over the upper back of his friend's suit. "Right between the shoulder blades."_

_The ringtail threw him a look, though without pausing in her careful shaving of the fur around Fox's gash. "Language, Mr Grey."_

_Bill's ears drooped. "Sorry – just glad I found the little...pain."_

"_You and me both," Fox chipped in, grinning._

_Once she'd confirmed the scanner's readings, the ringtail let slip a small smile of her own. "The General will be quite pleased, too, I dare say. I'll contact him once I'm done with you, Mr McCloud. We will have to take you suit, though."_

"_Just as long as I can borrow something else, fine."_

"_I'm sure we can rustle something up. Now – brace yourself, please..."_

_Sting, Fox quickly found out, had been a huge understatement; burn like someone had poured molten metal into the wound was closer to the mark. To his chagrin he couldn't stop his hands clenching the bedsheets and a sharp hiss escaping through gritted teeth. Mercifully, in the time it took the medic to shave and apply the lowest grade Gel to his other cuts the fire receded to merely a manageable ache._

"_Very good, Mr McCloud," she acknowledged, smoothing self-adhesive dressings over the gelled-up wounds. "Most cadets kick up much more of a fuss."_

"_I don't blame 'em," Fox groused. "That __hurt__."_

"_Not as much as it would have if that drone had caught you an inch or two lower, Mr McCloud," the ringtail responded, conversationally, as she finished applying the last dressing, just a hint of an impish grin tickling her neat muzzle. "You are a seriously lucky young fox."_

_Bill's legs crossed, the husky wincing visibly. "You have no idea. If he hadn't slipped in his shock..."_

"_I'd have shot to the top of the awkward and embarrassing injuries chart," Fox grinned ruefully, sitting up slowly once the medic had given him the go-ahead. "And weirded the doc out in record time."_

"_Actually, no." The grin was wide now, the ringtail's manner relaxing with the conclusion of business. "As a matter of fact, I doubt you'd make the top twenty – I stopped being surprised at the places and ways in which a cadet could hurt themselves years ago."_

_Fox's eyes widening, he shifted into sitting on the end of the bed, pulling his shorts back up. "I'm not going to ask... I'm not going to ask..."_

_Chuckling quietly, the medic turned to leave, Fox's suit draped over one arm. "We'll try to get your suit back by lights out, Mr McCloud, and someone should be along with some temporary clothes momentarily."_

"_Thanks. Bye." Fox called afte the fast-retreating back of the ringtail._

"_Bet you 50 creds it's Talmira," Bill wagered, pulling up a seat. "She's hates you more than enough to set a drone on you, and his the skills."_

"_Half the Academy hates my guts," Fox responded, dryly. "And the other half want to tie me to a bed and do illicit things to me. I'm honestly not sure which annoys me more."_

"_No, they wanna tie __James McCloud Junior__ to a bed__,__" Bill corrected him, with a sly grin, firmly back to his easygoing self. "Which is silly, since __Fox__ McCloud is infinitely more attractive, in my humble opinion."_

_Fox blinked, startled not only by the comment, but also the distinct warmth that had crept in toward the end. "Did my ears deceive me, or did Bill 'Girl-Crazy' Grey just call me __attractive__?"_

"_Well, you are," Bill responded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Very."_

"_Huh." McCloud tilted his head back to stare at the tiled ceiling of the room, a little colour tinting his cheeks at the thought of anyone, let alone his closest friend, finding him attractive. "And there was I convinced you only had eyes for the ladies."_

"_So was I." Grey's eyes opened, a wryly affectionate smile creasing his face. "And then I met you."_

_Fox felt his ears warming as well. "Now what in Lylat's brought this unmitigated sappiness on?"_

"_Oh, nothing much – except a psychopathic, knife-wielding drone that tried to slice and dice the one person I'd actually consider being in a serious relationship with. Really helps gets your priorities straight, that."_

_Fox gaped. "Is this the real Bill, or have you been replaced by one of James Junior's rabid admirers?"_

_Grey's reaction was quite a surprise – he barked with laughter. "Nope, can't stand the guy. Now, the real McCloud, that's a different story." He paused, observing the awkward way Fox wasn't looking at him. "Feel free to tell me to piss off, by the way."_

_Fox's muzzle snapped back up, a grin growing. "Now why would I want to do that? This is just getting interesting." He chuckled softly. "My room-mate's in love with me – who'da thunk it?"_

"_Well, maybe not __love__, as such," Bill responded as he shifted his seat right up to the bed and leaned closer, emboldened by the fox's widening smile, "but it's gotta be pretty damned close for me to want to do __this__..."_

_Before McCloud could even begin to formulate a reply Grey's lips were pressed against his own, caressing and tender yet disarmingly chaste. Completely impulsively Fox found himself kissing right back, and before either knew it their mouths were easing open to one another, closing over one another, embracing one another..._

'And we then spent the rest of the night screwing each other silly.' Fox's icy, angry voice wrenched Krystal violently from the memory, leaving her feeling uncomfortably flustered and painfully guilty. 'The end.'

'I...I'm...sorry...' she mumbled, mentally. 'It was just so...potent...a memory...'

'You have no idea.' Fox's tones were hard as flint. 'Now are you gonna get moving or not?'

Krystal blinked, suddenly aware the portcullis had retracted into the ceiling, obviously into Fox's passage. 'I-I'm moving.'

Shoulders slumping, tail flat against her legs, ears drooping, she shuffled further along her tunnel, coming to a halt by a short chain hanging down from the roof. Robotically she gripped it and pulled, hauling another metal gate into view. Catching hold of it she pulled it right down to the floor and held it there, hoping for Fox to tell her he was through. It felt like a lifetime inched its way past before...

'Through. Switch up here.' McCloud spoke in a businesslike, monosyllabic monotone.

'One here too,' Krystal forced herself to respond, releasing the portcullis and stepping on the panel set in the floor. A heavy click and heavier rumble from somewhere above her told of another barrier moving aside.

The pattern continued for several minutes, a monotonous procession of chains, gates and floor switches, Fox remaining frostily disconnected throughout, until a genuinely distraught cerulean vixen sagged to her knees at the entrance to a great dome of a chamber, hands covering eyes stinging with tears. She didn't react at all when McCloud dropped into a crouch in front of her, his passage having ended at a ledge directly above Krystal's. For a moment he simply stood facing away from her, shoulders set square, eyes cold, hands twitching in and out of fists. Then he turned round, took in the softly sobbing girl in front of him, and sighed.

"Dammit McCloud; you're a bloody idiot."

He stepped forward, dropped to his knees, and pulled Krystal into a close embrace, murmuring into her ear.

"Forget it, forget it – I'm a stupid, bloody idiot still bruising over something I should have shrugged away years ago, especially when it hurts someone I love so much..."

Blue eyes stared into his at this, the ears above them suddenly erect again, the tears drying up, and just a hint of a smile twitching at the corners of gentle lips.

"Well," Fox clarified, deliberately paraphrasing memory-Bill, "it might not be _love_, as such, but it's gotta be pretty damned close for me to want to do _this_..."

He kissed her, softly, but only for an instant, not wanting to push things after his less than stellar treatment of her. The blue vixen cocked her head slightly to one side as he drew back, regarding him much in the manner of a child trying to work out what it was they were looking at, then the smile grew a notch or two.

"You really are a strange one, Fox McCloud," she observed, in little more than a whisper. "Shouldn't I be the one apologising to you?"

Fox shook his head firmly, so firmly his ears waggled almost hard enough to hit him in the eyes, drawing an involuntary giggle from the vulpine lady in his arms. "No. No-no-no. You, my good Lady, have full permission to rummage around my head as much as you like. Keeping anything from you just...just doesn't feel right. And before you ask, I've come across telepathy before – Peppy's a minor telepath, and my father could throw across the odd word or image if he really tried." He flashed a goofy grin. "Apparently I redefine the phrase 'open-minded'."

Krystal giggled again, leaning in to return his kiss. "So open you might as well have no top to your skull."

Fox snickered. "Open-top head, the latest fashion craze – show off your cranial class to all and sundry. Also available are detachable, interchangeable mental lobes in a range of designer colours; now you can quite literally change your mind."

Krystal burst into full-on, heaving-sides laughter at this. "Go with the green, Sir – it really sets off your eyes."

"Or how about the corporate look – your company logo emblazoned in full-colour across the front of your brain." Fox rejoined, laughing quite a bit himself. "Let the world know exactly whose obedient little wage-slave you are!"

"Or even the multicolour mood-brain – changes pattern, hue and tone to perfectly reflect your state of mind," Krystal guffawed, enjoying herself immensely now. "No-one will ever misconstrue your meaning again!"

"No," Fox was almost literally crying with mirth now. "Since you'll be telegraphing it about a mile ahea-whoa, what the fu..?"

Even before he'd finished the flash of sleek, shimmering green he'd glimpsed out of the corner of his eye was gone. Krystal fixed him with a questioning gaze, body tensed.

"What did you see?"

"I think...a dinosaur of some sort. Small, green, bloody quick." Fox scanned the room thoroughly, but found nothing. "Gone. Whatever they are, they're shy."

"And immune to heat." Krystal panted, getting smartly to her feet. "It's boiling in here."

Fox nodded, his own tongue lolling steadily from his open mouth. "That'll be the molten lava moat around the platform back there. Homely."

Even before he'd finished speaking his eyes were flicking to one side, subtly drawing his companion's attention to the small, neat, pear-shaped head peeking around a nearby pillar of rock. Krystal's cocked slightly to one side for a moment, then she carefully, smoothly subsided into a crouch, one arm slowly extending.

"Semo nakx ij." She spoke in little more than a murmur, her tone coaxing, reassuring. "No'cc wok oei eik ev xoho."

"H...Houcco?" The petite, emerald green dinosaurian's voice was so soft Fox had to strain to hear it.

"Houcco," Krystal responded, firmly, allowing a smile to spread across her face, and beckoning with her outstretched hand.

The pint-sized dino shifted anxiously, but didn't come out. Concerned he might be the reason McCloud sank into a crouch himself, and tried his best to appear as friendly and non-threatening as he could. This seemed to do the trick, for the little guy finally emerged, albeit trembling from head to long, thin tail.

"Well, you weren't in the brochure," Fox murmured, as the dino stopped a foot from them, every last muscle in his elfin form primed for flight. "But then I guess being so small and therefore vulnerable in a world full of Sharpclaws means you keep your head down unless you have no other choice."

"Like when you're trapped in a cave under an active volcano, for instance," Krystal supplied, dryly. "Though exactly _how_ he got trapped here..."

"Chased by something, if those grouped scars on his sides are anything to go by," Fox deduced. "Through a small hole quite high up...there." He nodded toward a tiny fissure almost directly above the lava platform. "Which his attacker couldn't fit through, and he can't get back to."

"Nicely worked out." By now Krystal had managed to take hold of the dino's hand, and settled him down to the point he was almost smiling.

"Practice," Fox responded, matter-of-factly. "Now when you're ready, I'd very much like to get out of here before my fur melts off."

"Good to go," Krystal assured him. "That is, as soon as we know how..."

Fox flashed a grin, straightening up and turning to face the pillar their new friend had been hiding behind. It was one of an imposing pair standing stolidly in the centre of the domed chamber, flanking an inverted t-bar that hung from a mechanism set right in the apex of the ceiling, some twenty or more feet above the two foxes. Directly beneath it a pair of dark grey slabs were laid into the floor.

McCloud headed over, tail twitching and ears perked. Krystal trailed after him, leading the dinosaur by the hand, equally curious. Fox pressed a foot down onto the right-hand tile, whereupon the left one jerked visibly and quite violently upwards by a couple of inches. Fox looked up at the t-bar, making the connection.

"Oh, this might not be fun." He ran a hand along his headstripe. "I would ask if Charia's usually had such dangerous challenges, but from the look on your face..."

"No." Krystal shook her head firmly. "Never." Releasing the dino's hand and squaring her shoulders she stepped onto the left slab. "Stamp down a bit."

A little reluctantly Fox did as bid, slamming his foot down fairly forcefully, and the vixen was propelled almost to waist height in the blink of an eye. She landed at a semi-crouch with her arms spread, her breathing heavy and her eyes wide.

"Powerful," she observed, with somewhat forced humour. "Hope you're good at catching people."

Knowing arguing would be futile, McCloud smiled grimly. "Ready when you are."

Krystal spread her legs a little, settling herself into as solid a pose as possible, then nodded. Taking a slight run-up Fox launched himself into the air, crashing all his weight down on the right-hand tile. This time the vixen shot up like a rocket, arms stretched out over her head, gaze locked on the t-bar. For a tantalising instant it looked like she might reach it, but her momentum faded a fraction too soon, leaving her outstretched fingers to brush the underside of the smooth metal futilely for a split second before gravity took over. With an effort she managed to twist backwards as she fell, so she was lying almost horizontally when she landed in Fox's waiting arms, the orange vulpine having to crouch quite deeply to absorb all the impact.

"Blast," Krystal hissed, once she was back on her feet. "So close. Don't suppose you could find somewhere higher to jump from?"

Fox shook his head. "No, but maybe a little extra weight'll help, if our scaly friend is willing...?"

The answer came almost before he'd finished speaking, the little dino clambering up him to settle on his back, hands linked around the fox's neck.

"Didn't even need to translate," Krystal smiled, settling herself again. "Whenever you're ready..."

Once sure his passenger was secure, Fox repeated the jump and slam routine, and the vixen was racing upwards once more. This time her fingers managed to snag the pole, either side of the vertical section, prompting a jubilant punch at the air and a whoop from McCloud. With a reverberant clunk the t-bar dropped several inches and something heavy and grinding engaged in the depths of the mechanism. A thick sheet of corrugated metal stretched out across to the platform in the lava, locking firmly into place.

"Re-_sult_!" Fox hollered, as the dino dropped lightly from his back.

"Oh, the relief," Krystal sighed, beaming delightedly. "I'm coming down."

"Ready." Fox responded, in position.

Thirty seconds later they were walking hand in hand across the bridge, to find a simple rock pedestal with a gleaming silver bracelet resting on it, and – to their unbridled joy – a warp pad.

Krystal picked up the bracelet as Fox gently ushered the dino onto the pad. Once he'd swirled into nothing, the vixen followed, then finally McCloud. They materialised in a previously inaccessible alcove attached to the entrance chamber, just to one side of the chest their belongings had been stowed in.

"I'm impressed," the statue greeted them, genuinely sounding it. "You two really work well together."

"So it seems," Krystal agreed, watching Fox yank open the chest to find, much to the orange vulpine's relief, all their possessions safe and sound.

"Hello, missed a call." McCloud lifted out his wristcomp and holo-projector, a bright light blinking on the former. He dabbed at a button and a head bloomed into being above the now hovering projector, grey furred, sharp of muzzle and ear, an electronic patch across one eye, and a sneer on its lips. Fox's face hardened into a snarl. "Wolf..."

"Not answering, Pup?" the gravelly, oddly cultured voice asked, mockingly. "Pity – you really need to hear this. We've taken the Great Fox, along with the doddering hare and the idiot toad – they should reach our home base within the day." He gave a guttural laugh. "Can't believe it was so easy – you're getting soft, Fox. We've also neutralised your Arwing along with the mouthy bird's shuttle. Talking of him, he should be warming a Sharpclaw cell right about now; nothing like an unexpected phone call to blow your cover. Oh, and don't expect any Cornerian cavalry to come charging to the rescue – they're a little busy with Andross' leavings and a couple of destroyed outposts.

"Put simply, Pup, you are now trapped on that backward planet, with no support and no way out...and I'm going to hunt you. I'm going to give you until dusk, then I will be trailing you wherever you run, flushing you from wherever you hide, and I will corner you, and I will kill you, McCloud, and there's nothing you can do about it. Wolf out."


	8. Harsh Reality

_Please note - this chapter has strong language from the start._

**Chapter 7**

**Harsh Reality**

"_Shit_!" Fox McCloud hurled the wristcomp and holo-projector back into the chest, his face contorted in apoplectic rage, his eyes burning. "That one-eyed _son-of-a-bitch_!"

Krystal shied away more than a little, ears flattening back, eyes widening, unnerved by the outburst and, initially at least, unsure how to react. The small dinosaur bolted for the furthest corner and huddled there, arms covering his head, body shaking violently.

"Should have fucking _known_ he wasn't dead!" Fox thumped down with his back against the chest, fingers clawing at his temples. "And I shouldn't have let our-our defences slip so _fucking_ much!"

Krystal took a step toward him, her wits just about regained, determined to try and calm him down. "Fox, please..."

"_F__uck_!" His hands were clamped to his face now. "_Fucking_ idiot!"

"FOX!" She hated to shout, but couldn't see another option.

McCloud started violently, almost glaring at the vixen through parted fingers, but didn't say anything.

Krystal sat alongside him, one leg drawn up to her chest, the other straight out in front of her, and fixed him with a steady gaze. "Fox, take a breath, then tell me who that was and why he wants to kill you so much."

Fox sighed, letting his hands thump into his lap. "That... That was Wolf O'Donnell, leader of another mercenary group, StarWolf, and the Lylat System's biggest bastard. During the Venom Wars a few years back we came up against them twice, and beat them twice, the second time over Venom itself and – we _thought_ – for good. Their ships were shattered wrecks, they were all badly injured, the planet was a semi-mechanised wasteland – we were _convinced_ they were finished." Another sigh, this one turning into a soft groan. "I guess we were wrong, and I guess he's angry and sore and vengeful, and we – _I_ – in growing complacent and letting my guard down gave him the perfect opportunity for some payback." His fist slammed into the wood he sat against, his voice twisting into a snarl. "And now they've got Peppy, and Slippy, and ROB, and the GreatFox, and Falco's in Scale's hands, and it's all because I got sloppy and lazy and _fucking_ stupid!"

Krystal gripped his shoulder. "And I suppose having little to no funds so you couldn't keep the ship and its security in proper condition had nothing to do with it?"

"Well, no, but –"

"And having little to no work for months or maybe years on end, so little to no way to keep yourself focused and sharp and alert had nothing to do with it either?"

"Maybe it was a-a small factor, but –"

"Or Falco's leaving?"

"That...that certainly did, yes." Fox seemed to have lost the will to argue, his mood not nearly so violent any more. "He's a one-bird army."

"So circumstances ensured you were vulnerable, and all Wolf had to do was wait for the right opening," Krystal reasoned.

"And circumstances contrived to give him a killer one." Fox seemed almost resigned now. "I still think I could..._should_...have done more, though..."

"All part and parcel of being a leader, Fox." Krystal leaned forward to nuzzle his muzzle softly. "Especially a good one."

"Maybe." Fox's ears dipped, just a touch of colour coming to his cheeks. "Sorry about the language, by the way – I tend to get pretty foul-mouthed when I'm angry. Old, bad habit I can't seem to cure."

"No problem." Krystal assured him, a smirk twisting the corners of her mouth. "Besides, it's not like I haven't let rip myself before now."

"You?" Fox couldn't quite process the concept, eyes widening. "Cussing like a soldier?"

"Oh, yeah," Krystal confirmed, smirk widening. "Though I _was_ being chased through a decrepit maze of a moonbase by a half-naked, drug-crazed pirate tiger with a pulse rifle and a foul temper at the time, so I like to think I had good reason." She held up a hand to forestall the hundred questions Fox looked like he was about to throw at her. "I'll show you later; for now we need to get dressed and moving before your angry friend shows up."

"Ah, small problem there." Fox rubbed the back of his head, frustration starting to creep back in again. "Can't take any of my clothes or equipment – Slippy bugged 'em so I could be kept track of on ground missions, and since Wolf now has the GreatFox, chances are he'll have the frequencies and codes, too."

"That's a pain..." Krystal grimaced. "I guess you can't just cut them out of your clothes?"

"No, 'cause in a way they _are_ my clothes. Never really understood it, but it's something to do with special fibres woven throughout the fabric, so even a tiny scrap puts out a passable signal. Saved my life a couple of times. Oh, the irony..." He reached round to pluck the backpack from the chest and plunge a hand inside it. "Before you ask, this is used so rarely it never seemed worth fibre-bugging it."

"So we're down to a backpack and a bikini? Lovely." She cocked her head. "What are you after?"

"My knife."

"Why on Saur... Oh... You've got a bug implanted under your skin somewhere, haven't you?"

"Yep – in the small of my back." Fox pulled a three-inch, matt black folding knife from the bag and held it out to the vixen. "Which needs to be removed, and since I physically can't do it..."

"All right." Krystal agreed, taking the blade. "Might be best to kneel against the chest."

Fox nodded, shifting round and onto his knees, settling his hands on the gently curving lid of the container. The vixen set her fingers to stroking through the fur of his lower back, searching for the telltale bump she knew had to be there. She found it a fraction above the base of his tail, a miniscule protrusion that was very easy to mistake for a spot. As best she could when equipped with just a knife she trimmed the fur around it up to the skin, then carefully drew the tip of the blade across the bump twice, creating a neat little cross that welled with scarlet almost instantly and exposed a glint of metal.

As deft as Krystal's fingers were, though, it took a little while to prise the bug out, it managing to be both slippery as wet soap and curiously adhesive, fusing back into the flesh every time digit or blade slipped. Eventually, after many muttered self-reprimands from the vixen and much tensing of fingers by McCloud, the blue female worked it free and sat back, grimacing at the divot in Fox's back she'd created and the blood drooling quite copiously from it.

"Made a mess of that, didn't I?" she observed, somewhat morosely, retrieving her bikini from the chest and applying the knife to both halves.

"Actually, considering it's designed to be a pain to remove, you did damn well," Fox disagreed, twisting his head round to smile at her. "I've seen trained medics take over ten minutes to pull one out."

Her cheek fur darkening slightly, she bent down to gently lick – her tongue being the best cleaning tool available – as much of the blood from the wound as possible, before pressing a small wad of cloth to it, holding it there with her nose until she'd tied a very makeshift bandage around his waist. Once satisfied the ad hoc dressing was secure she patted McCloud on the shoulder, who promptly span round to regard her with genuine admiration, his smile fully encompassing his face now.

"And a good, solid field dressing, too," he remarked, taking the knife she proffered, folding it up and tucking it under the bandage as it crossed his right hip. "If we ever get out of this alive, remind me to offer you a place on the team – you'd be a credit to any squad, believe me."

Now Krystal was blushing heavily, looking everywhere except at Fox as she dropped the scraps of fabric that were all that remained of her bikini into the backpack. She took up her staff, got softly to her feet and padded over to the door, where the now only mildly nervous dino was quick to join her. "Are we ready?"

"When we decide where we're going, yes," Fox responded, moving over to stand alongside them, pack slung over one shoulder and stave hanging loosely from his hand.

"My ship." It was closer to an order than a suggestion. "All right, it's not flyable, but there are supplies and clothes we can use. It's deep in the woods south of Thorntail."

"That's assuming Wolf didn't find and destroy it."

"If he had, wouldn't he have said so? I don't think he knows about me."

Fox nodded slowly. "You're right. Let's try and keep it that way." He turned to the statue. "May we please be permitted egress?"

"Of course." The door eased silently open as it replied, the diminutive dinosaurian disappearing through it so fast he was almost a blur. Neither fox remarked upon it – they honestly couldn't blame him. "Your possessions will be safe here – nothing can breach that portal unless I allow it to."

"Thank you." Krystal nodded politely, shaking off one last twinge of memory and peering outside. "Lovely – it's raining..."

"Fine by me." Fox flashed a grin. "I could use a cool shower, and anything that helps obscure our tracks is very welcome. Ladies first..."

"Is it just me or are those bastards getting tougher?" Fox wondered, slightly favouring a left leg streaked with blood, his fur wringing with rainwater, the crumpled form of a stocky Sharpclaw fading into the blue behind him.

Krystal, patches of congealing scarlet dotted over the sodden pelt of one arm and most of her chest, shook her head, her breathing a little laboured, her gait not quite as smooth and sure as when they'd started out. "It's not just you – they're getting tougher, _and_ there's more of them. You'd almost think they knew..."

"At the very least, they suspect," Fox responded, teeth lightly gritted behind his almost grimly neutral expression. His ears perked up, detecting a deeper, fuller roar of mobile liquid beneath the ceaseless susurration of the rain. "I think I hear the waterfall."

Krystal's swivelled forward, her demeanour picking up to the point she nearly smiled. "Yep, that's it. The ship should be right alongside it."

The ship proved to be a small, gunmetal grey transport that bore a passing resemblance to an egg, being far broader at one end than the other. With its snub nose embedded amongst the roots of a half-toppled tree, its bodywork buckled and dented, the cockpit window webbed with fractures and the sliding airlock door jammed half open, it was a truly sorry sight, and neatly put paid to any hopes McCloud had of it being a potential way out of the mess Wolf had created for them.

"Tough landing?" he asked, as he followed her up to it.

"Very," Krystal confirmed, stepping lightly inside, tail higher than it had been in a little while. It dropped abruptly as she took in the interior, bristling along with her hackles, and her hands tightened into fists. "Oh, those little..."

Fox rested a hand on one of her shoulders and his chin on the other, pressing lightly up against the seething vixen to peer past her into the cabin of the vessel. It was as basic and simple as any he'd come across, just two pilot seats at the front, consoles curving around them, and a multi-purpose living area lined with cupboards and drawers and cubby holes, every last one of which had been completely emptied out.

"I don't believe it!" Krystal hurried around the craft, finding nothing but empty space wherever she looked. "The little horrors took everything! Every last blasted thing! Even some of the _trim_..."

"What little horrors?" Fox asked, still standing in the doorway.

"Lightfoots." Krystal all but spat the word out, not pausing in her increasingly frantic scouring of the ship. "Three or four of them were hanging around pretty much constantly within hours of the crash, but always in the distance, in the shadows, in the trees and bushes...somewhere they could vanish from or into quickly, I suppose...and they never did anything other than watch and chatter to each other, so...I ignored them. Thought them harmless, just inquisitive." She slumped onto a long, low plush seat toward the rear of the craft, visibly fighting to remain calm, her paws cradling her face. "Guess they weren't. Guess they were just...waiting for the right opening..."

Fox, ignoring the glimpses of movement in the corner of his eye, stepped into the cabin and padded over to the vixen, sitting alongside her and slipping an arm round her. "I'm assuming there was...more in here than just clothes and food?"

Krystal nodded, pressing closer to him almost without thinking about it, settling deeper into his light embrace. "Memories; the last I had of Jade and my parents..." Her voice was a faraway murmur. "Sealed in a box my mother made for me..."

Fox's ears perked. "Sealed? Interesting choice of word..."

"Magic lock only I know the secret to. Doesn't stop them breaking it open, though."

"No, but it might frustrate them long enough for them to run out of patience and toss it away, if they're the scavengers I think they are." A smile tweaked the corners of his mouth briefly on spotting more movement and a flash of sleek green scales just outside the door. "If they can't get into it nice and quickly, why waste any more effort on it?"

"Even if that were true, that leaves a whole lot of forest to search for it..."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," Fox assured her, kissing the bridge of her muzzle to stall the questions he could see coming. "I believe we've just made some very useful allies. Our focus now should be seeing what if anything we can salvage from the arwing and Falco's transport, finding food, talking to the Queen Earthwalker, and trying to find a way to get to the first chunk of floating planet."

"So I'm not the only one thinking it's odd our friend Warpstone can only send you to two places, then?" Krystal enquired, straightening up a little and fixing McCloud with a gently knowing smirk.

"Definitely not." Fox twisted round enough to look at his companion comfortably, their noses so close their whiskers brushed. "Hopefully the big stone guy remembers what to do, and whatever it is it's not too tricky or time-consuming."

"I wouldn't place a wager on that," Krystal advised him, drily. "Not with our luck."

"Eh, something's gotta go right for us sometime," Fox responded, airily, flashing his best devil-may-care grin as he got to his feet and shook himself. "Now, is there anything you want to take care of, or shall we just cut right to the chase?"

"Mmm, one thing..." The vixen, in a single smooth movement, stood up, stepped forward and enfolded him in the warmest and closest of embraces, one he was quick to return in full, and one that lasted quite a few minutes in the end. "Now I have some arms to bury myself in, I'll be taking advantage of them every chance I get," she explained, once they'd loosened their holds enough for their eyes to meet again.

"Fine by me," Fox responded, unable to resist nuzzling her softly. She nuzzled him right back, and before either knew it lips were caressing lips. Before things could evolve any further, though, Krystal eased back.

"Later," she whispered, in response to McCloud's playful pout, a real sparkle in her eyes now. "Later."

"I'll hold you to that," Fox assured her, stealing one last very quick kiss as he led her out of the ship, into rain that was visibly lessening.

"You'd better."

A half-hour hike through woodland so dense it felt like permanent twilight beneath the canopy, interrupted by no fewer than six Sharpclaw attacks, each more brutal than the last, took them to the Hollow, by which time the rain had all but ceased. Krystal flattened herself up against a trunk right on the edge of the cliff, and Fox up against her back in a decidedly protective manner, and both peered round the tree to survey the situation.

Neutralised, they quickly realised, was something of an understatement – McCloud's arwing and Falco's transport had been reduced to smouldering, sparking shells, rent thoroughly asunder by a barrage of laser fire. What initially looked like simply sustained blanket bombardment quickly took on a different cast to McCloud's experienced eyes, though – beyond the two craft and an area of greenery about two feet around them very little else had even suffered a glancing blow, the exceptions being two fairly long and very narrow strips of furrowed earth and charred grass that stretched out toward the river and Warpstone's enclosure respectively, both of which were further notable for the total lack of any lifeless Thorntail corpses anywhere along their lengths. The dinosaurs themselves were all present and correct, if looking shaken to a reptile, and even those aggravating little flying creatures were still flapping lazily around. There were also a dozen or more heavily armed Sharpclaws patrolling the Hollow, two of them keeping close watch on the wreckage, a sight that had Fox's fists clenching in frustration.

All the signs pointed to a precision hit, and yet the very idea of _Wolf O'Donnell_, for whom collateral damage was a perk of the job and the phrase 'hammer to crack a nut' was practically a personal motto, taking care to only destroy what he was actually aiming at and not just dropping a nova bomb or two was almost inconceivable. The simple fact that the Hollow wasn't a smoking crater left Fox dazed and confused, failing completely to wrap his head around an irreconcilable contradiction.

Forcing this train of thought into a siding before it plummeted off a cliff, he glanced briefly at the sky, hoping fervently that O'Donnell wasn't keeping watch on the area, since with all the technology undoubtedly packed into the Wolfen there was almost literally no place to hide, then started down into the dell, Krystal right behind him. Cautious to the point of paranoia he led his companion from one patch of cover to the next, working their way across the Hollow in short, sharp spurts to avoid detection, until they were crouched low and close together amongst the rocks and weeds at the edge of the river, submerged almost to their shoulders, staring up the gently rising bank at the ruins of the two craft.

Now Fox was struck by just how little debris there was amongst the wreckage, barely a trace remaining of the considerable quantity of medical and food supplies the transport had contained and, much more worryingly, none at all of the numerous weapons Falco had stockpiled in various concealed compartments. A glance at his companion told him she'd come to the same conclusion - they had to get closer, if only to confirm what looked pretty certain already, which brought up the thorny issue of how to deal with a pair of large, scaly, thickset, axe-wielding problems without drawing attention to themselves.

The Sharpclaws, ironically enough, suggested the answer, their method of patrolling in a loose circle around the wreckage, one always diametrically opposite the other, providing a definite, if brief window for ambush, not least since the route passed within three feet of the bank the foxes crouched against. Pressing so tight to the bank and rocks the water crept up to their necks they watched and waited, nerves taut as guitar strings, until the larger of the two dinosaurs plodded close enough.

The instant he was parallel to the water the vulpines lunged for him almost in perfect unison, catching hold of and hauling him into the river so fast he was underwater before he knew what had hit him. It took all of their combined strength to disarm him and hold him there, and he kicked up more than enough noise and fury before finally vanishing in that all-too-familiar blue shimmer to set their pulses racing faster than they already were, but luck seemed to be with them, as no shouts went up and no-one came running.

Several more minutes ticked by, the two foxes huddled so close together in the water they could feel each other's hearts hammering, before the other Sharpclaw stalked slowly into view, his gait stiff, his head twisting constantly from side to side, his eyes wide and his axe clutched tight in both hands; he knew something was wrong, but atypically for his kind he obviously wasn't about to charge into anything. He also proved to be unusually observant, spotting the scuffs and scrapes left in the grass by the first dinosaur pretty quickly, but before he could lift his head to raise the alarm a bolt hit him hard in the throat. Half a second later he was face down in the river.

Once he'd vanished, the vulpines wasted no time in hustling up the bank, Fox heading for the transport, Krystal the Arwing, knowing they'd have minutes at best before fresh muscle was teleported in or one of the others elsewhere in the Hollow noticed what was missing. In tense silence they scoured the shattered remnants of the two craft, trying to be both thorough and fast, but turned up nothing beyond the very occasional scrap of torn and scorched cloth and char grilled stain of processed rations. Frustrated but not willing to take the slightest risk they regrouped and slipped back into the river, and none too soon – even as they settled in the narrow space behind the waterfall three brand new Sharpclaws showed up, all armed with shields as well as axes, and all on high alert.

"Damn," Fox muttered, as he and Krystal huddled tightly into one another's arms, only their heads, resting cheek to cheek, above the water line. "You'd almost think someone cleared the ships out before Wolf turned his lasers on 'em."

The vixen nodded toward the shop. "Your friend Creepy, maybe?"

"Most likely, yeah," Fox agreed, grimacing involuntarily at the thought of the deeply odd dinosaur. "Though we can't ignore the Lightfoots or the Sharpclaws, either. I _really_ hope it's not the latter that took Falco's gun collection. There's some _nasty_ kit in there..."

"Not a pretty thought," Krystal concurred. "Wanna duck into the shop and see if there's anything there?"

"No – we're pushing our luck as it is. We'll check in on the Earthwalkers, and _maybe_ try and sneak a chat with Warpstone, then we're gone. Ready?"

"Ready."

Fox in the lead, they crept along the river, keeping as low as physically possible and freezing what felt like every other step at the slightest twitch from a Sharpclaw. Progress was only slightly quicker on reaching the deeper section that allowed them to swim, in spite of being underwater, since they had to keep poking their noses out for air and to maintain tabs on the patrolling dinosaurs. In particular they focused on the Sharpclaw marching stolidly back and forth across the enclosure in front of the Earthwalkers' cave, an especially massive brute toting a spiked club bigger than Fox.

"How the bloody hell are we gonna get past him?" Fox wondered, in a whisper, as he and Krystal trod water as close to the walled area as they dared. "You could drop a Landmaster on his head and he wouldn't even flinch." He sighed, rubbing his temple. "All we can hope is the muscle in his head isn't as strong as the ones in his arms..."

Krystal lifted an eyebrow. "Are you thinking of doing...what I _think_ you're thinking of doing?"

Fox stole a kiss, little more than grazing his lips over hers for a second, then flashed that grin again. "Don't hang about, all right? And shut the door behind you, if you can."

Krystal nodded, taking a deep breath, then McCloud was gone, racing up the bank and across the front of the enclosure, tail streaming out behind him. The outsize Sharpclaw's reaction was instantaneous – he let out a barking cry, which drew the attention of all his brethren, and gestured urgently with his club towards the two nearest him, then at Fox's sprinting figure. A pair of barks in smart reply and the two dinosaurs were chasing after McCloud with startling speed, charging across the undulating grass with axes ready. The leader, as he seemed to be, settled back into his steady patrol.

"Oh..._shit_..." Krystal husked, barely able to hold back a rush of panic as she watched Fox disappear down one of the cuttings that led from the Hollow, the Sharpclaws only a hair behind. Closing her eyes and resting her forehead against the grass she forced herself to breathe deeply and calm down, to trust that Fox could survive and escape, and to focus on finding a way past the scale mountain.

Looking up again, the vixen studied the mechanically pacing dinosaur for several long minutes as she silently worked through option after option, possibility after possibility, discarding each almost as soon as she thought of them, until, eyes widening, it suddenly occurred to her things might well not be what they seemed, in which case...

Shoulders squared she stood up and walked slowly and deliberately out of the water, up the bank, along the low wall and into the enclosure, coming to a halt right in front of the titanic Sharpclaw. Standing with hands linked neatly behind her back (the retracted staff held vertically between them in a probably forlorn attempt to keep it hidden) she waited in stolid silence, looking far more composed and collected than she felt, as the dinosaur regarded her askance for several seconds, a lot more intelligence in those dark eyes than she'd expected...

Eyes she got to inspect at much closer quarters when one massive green hand shot out to clamp roughly around her waist and lift her into the air, holding her so close to his face his breath blew her whiskers back. Now she couldn't even begin to hide the fear that had been gnawing at her ever since she left the river, her ears flat back, her eyes wide and dilated and her tail limp against her legs. The Sharpclaw either didn't register it or simply didn't care, for after several more moments of intense scrutiny he abruptly lifted his club to smash the end of it against the target above the doorway, then once the stone barrier had slid aside enough literally threw her into the passage beyond.

Krystal helplessly and violently skidded and tumbled into the narrow chamber such was the force the dinosaur had flung her with, coming to a halt with the jarring, painful aid of a wall. Feeling like half her fur and skin had been scraped off she clambered to her feet, leaning heavily against the rock until the world wasn't spinning so much. The first thing she noticed was that the slab was sealing the entrance once more; the second, this with a welcome surge of relief, her staff lying a few feet to the left. The third...

"Krystal!" Tricky bounded to his feet and bounced over to her. "I knew you'd come to get us out! I _knew_ y... Hey – where's Fox...?"

"He's...got something to take care of." She started for the other end of the room, where the Queen Earthwalker lay peacefully, intending to sit in the corner opposite her. The dinosaurs, however, seemed to have other ideas, since at a nod from his mother Tricky started gently nudging the vixen toward the elder Earthwalker, guiding her into settling with her back against a broad, surprisingly warm flank. "So they're using this place as a holding cell now?"

"Yes." The Queen sounded and looked far from perturbed by events. "We've been shut in here for over two hours now, although, from the looks of you, we've gotten off lightly."

Krystal chuckled ruefully. "Oh, you have _no idea_..."

"Care to tell us about it?"

"I-It'd take a while," the vixen demurred, stroking Tricky's scalp, the latter having rested his head in her lap. "It's been...eventful..."

"We're not exactly short of time," the Queen Earthwalker coaxed, with a soft smile.

"True..." Krystal nodded, deciding any distraction was better than none, and besides, it wasn't like she was spoilt for ways to pass the time. "Well, it started this morning, when we reached the cave the Key was in..."

She didn't know how long she spent reliving the events of the last few hours (or most of them, at least) for the two highly attentive dinosaurs, but it felt like an age, not least since dear Tricky persisted in interrupting to ask question after question after question, ranging from the painfully inane to the startlingly perceptive. She didn't get to finish the story, though, for just as she started to recall their arrival at her shuttle a basso rumble filled the chamber.

Nerves jangling she snatched up her staff and took a few steps forward, so she could watch the door slide open, tensed ready to defend herself and, more importantly, the two Earthwalkers if necessary. Rather than the towering brute that had thrown her in, or any other snorting Sharpclaw thug for that matter, slowly revealed as the stone moved aside was the golden-orange furred, bruised and battered and bloody, heavily breathing yet still confidently smiling form of Fox McCloud.

She literally ran for him, clamping her arms round him in a fierce embrace, kissing his face repeatedly. "How did you...?"

"Later." He hugged her back just as tightly, and returned most of her kisses. "Have you asked her Majesty about Warpstone?"

Krystal flushed lightly, feeling oddly giddy with Fox back in her arms. "No, sorry – Tricky and the Queen wanted to know why I look so bad, and I didn't think I'd be getting out so-"

Fox pressed a finger to her lips. "You couldn't look bad if you tried. Now, sorry to rush you, but I don't want to push our luck." He released her and moved further inside, patting Tricky on the head and bowing to the Queen Earthwalker. "Your Highness, apologies if I seem rude or impatient, but do you know if Warpstone was ever able to send people to places other than the ones he can now?"

The Queen took several seconds to think this through, her gaze drifting to the distant, before snapping back into sharp focus on McCloud. "There have been...rumours to that effect for a long time, and there are a series of notches on the inside of the rock wall around him, so it's certainly likely, but no-one knows for sure besides Warpstone himself, and he won't talk about it. Maybe if you catch him in a good mood...?"

Fox grinned, nodding. "Oh, I think we might be able to coax it out of him now we have a window. Speaking of, we'd better take our leave. Will you two be all right here, or is there somewhere else you can find safety?"

"We'll be fine here," the Queen assured him. "There isn't much they can do to us."

"All right." Fox bowed again, as did Krystal beside him. "Farewell for now."

"Window?" the vixen asked, as McCloud led the way outside at a brisk jog. "What did you mean...oh..."

Her eyes widened dramatically on noticing the complete lack of Sharpclaws throughout the Hollow; not a single, solitary one met her astonished gaze. "Where...?"

"When I got back here I found them gathered round a projection of a tall dino barking out orders – I don't think it was Scales, just a high-ranking minion. When he'd finished they all teleported away, one after the other, in a matter of seconds, the big guy last of all. Whatever it was the commander wanted it sounded pretty damn urgent."

"I'll have to take at it look later," Krystal decided, as they ducked through the gap in Warpstone's wall. "See if I can translate what he said."

"Okay. You'll have to teach me the language some time..."

"We'll start tonight," she promised. "If we get the chance..." She lifted her muzzle and voice, Warpstone now looming right above them. "Could we have a word, please?"

"O' course," Warpstone answered, gesturing toward the platform in front of him. "What be on yer minds?"

"Travel." Fox stepped up onto the tiny circular area, Krystal right beside him, their hands clasping each other quite firmly, and it rose to the statue's head height. "As in, we've lost our way of getting to the planet chunks floating in orbit, and wondered if..."

"I could help?" Warpstone smiled, though it held a certain melancholy. "Aye, I could, if I still had ma jewels."

"Jewels?" both foxes asked, sharing a glance, a thrill of excitement tingling through both of them.

Warpstone tapped the vivid green gem embedded in his forehead, then pointed to the inside of the rocks around him, to his left, where a quartet of identically shaped notches cold be discerned. "Jewels. In ma pomp I could take ye a dozen or more places with the aid of yon shiny beauties, but that was centuries ago. I havnae seen a stone in over two hundred years, not since the Whisperscales took the last o' 'em." He held up a finger to forestall the questions forming on vulpine lips. "Although, I did hear there just might be something at a place called...what was it...?"

Two sets of ears pricked up even more.

"High up in Moon Mountain Pass."

Krystal looked at Fox. "That's three days walk from here – very strange place; desolate and warped and more than a little creepy."

"Sounds like fun," McCloud drawled. His eyes snapped back to Warpstone. "Any idea what we need to look for?"

The statue shook his head slowly.

"Damn. We'll just have to wing it, then." He nodded to Warpstone. "Thank you for the help, and if you don't mind we need to get gone before the Sharpclaws return."

"Go. Awae with ye. I'll be here when ye need me."

Once the platform had sunk enough the foxes started back toward the main section of the Hollow, Fox leading Krystal down the path he'd taken when fleeing the Sharpclaws. It dropped down several thigh height ledges before terminating in a roughly circular area of twenty feet diameter with a heavy barred gate on the far side and a dozen or so branded crates clustered haphazardly to the right, two of which were broken enough for a handful of dumbledang pods to have spilled out of one and large, pale white eggs from the other.

"Food supplies!" Krystal crouched down by the damaged box, scooping as many pods as she could into her arms. "Something to smile about at last!"

Fox, meanwhile, was collecting half a dozen of the eggs. "I hope these are bird eggs."

Krystal nodded. "Pukpuk eggs. Large, almost flightless, very common forest bird. Kinda like chickens only even more stupid."

"You mean it's possible?" Fox laughed, as they ambled back toward the ledges.

"Put it this way..." Krystal turned round and hopped up to sit on the first ledge, then shuffled backwards and carefully climbed to her feet. "Once, when settling down for the night, I had one try to roost in my lap, repeatedly, no matter how many times I shoved it off, and even after I moved. In the end I had to climb up a tree to get some sleep."

McCloud was shaking with laughter now. "Oh, I wish I'd been there to see that..."

Krystal was giggling more than a little herself. "Who knows, you just might get to see a repeat performance – the bloody things seem to adore me..." Her ears shot up. "Oh, by the way – there's something you really need to take a look at; I stumbled across it while collecting the white grubtubs."

"And it only pops back into your head now _because_...?"

"Because coming within a whisker of being eaten by a living cloud clears your mind out very effectively."

Fox flashed a contrite smile, nudged her cheek with his nose. "Ah, fair enough. We'll store these just beyond the tree line then take a quick look, ok?"

"Ok." Krystal nodded, pressing her lips very briefly to his brow. "I think there's a hollow log we can use quite close to the top of the ridge."

By this stage they'd reached the tumble of rocks they'd used to descend into the Hollow. The ascent was a much slower affair by necessity, the foxes having to ferry the eggs and pods up one or two at a time, but it went as smoothly as could be hoped, and moments later the supplies were safely stowed in the log and the vulpine pair were on their way to the mound the opposite side of the river from the Earthwalker's chamber. Krystal led the way along the cramped tunnel and down the hugely long ladder inside, to the bottom of a broad shaft dotted with narrow platforms and large red mushrooms that emitted clouds of choking dust every time someone strayed too close.

Giving the latter as wide a berth as possible the foxes jogged through a low arched opening into a long lozenge of a chamber, the vixen heading for a shallow bump about a third of the way down the middle of the room, at the apex of which was a hole two feet in diameter. With no hesitation at all Krystal dropped into it, drifting gently down to a compact, tiled dome of a room from which a serpentine, sloping passage extended. A wide-eyed Fox was right behind her.

"Well, that's a neat trick."

"Neater one down here," Krystal responded, beckoning him to follow.

The tunnel led to a slightly larger dome that contained a circular pool with a platform in the centre, a huge stalactite pointing toward the centre of it. Fox's eyes lit up.

"Staff power?"

"Staff power."

Grinning hugely, Fox vaulted over to the platform and held his staff high above his head, this time not reacting at all when the lightning bolt hit it. Leaping back, he joined Krystal in collecting some of the gems ringed around the pool to recharge their staffs, then they retraced their steps to the shaft, the vixen stopping under a ledge some twenty feet high.

"Stand back, and watch this."

A positively agog McCloud took several paces back, watching intently as Krystal stabbed the pincer end of the staff into the ground, gripped the shaft just below the golden oval and fingered another artfully concealed button. A light swelled in the green gem nestled amongst the golden tines, a tremor radiated out from the point metal met dusty topsoil, growing exponentially stronger over several seconds, then with an almost frightening suddenness and violence the staff rocketed vertically upwards, the vixen clinging tight to it, whooping and hollering the whole way. When stave and passenger drew level with the ledge the pace smoothly decreased, allowing Krystal to gracefully flip over and land at a crouch. The grin she was wearing when she straightened up and turned round to gaze down at McCloud was a sight to behold.

"Your turn!"

Experiencing a mixed feeling of excitement and nervous anticipation uncannily like the one that washed through him every time he sealed the cockpit of his Arwing, Fox stepped forward and repeated his companion's actions almost exactly, tensing himself for the eruption. It still caught him by surprise, though, punching the breath from his lungs and wrenching at his wrist muscles as it tore him from the ground and propelled him at truly exhilarating speed straight up, wind tearing through his fur, ears pushed flat back and tail plastered against his legs. For some moments after his feet touched the ledge all he could do was gape at Krystal with eyes shining and a giddy smile on his face.

"Whoa..."

"Yeah, that was my reaction," she chortled, patting him on the shoulder. "Three more of those and we're out of here."

Fox grinned from ear to ear. "This job _really_ has its perks."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again," Fox murmured, lazily trailing the fingers of one hand through silky-soft white-with-a-hint-of-blue fur. "This job _really_ has its perks."

The food stowed safely in Krystal's transport, a small supper of a dumbledang pod each consumed, and an agreement reached that it would be better to start for Moon Mountain Pass as early as possible the next morning rather than leave straight away, the two foxes had headed to the nearby waterfall and the crystal clear teardrop of a pool it cascaded into, determined to make the most of a chance to relax and enjoy themselves. Thus Fox now sat behind the sparkling veil of the falls, his back resting on slick stone, his arms around the vixen in his lap, his fingers stroking blood from her belly fur.

"You're telling me," Krystal purred, her head nestled against his and her eyes blissfully closed. An encounter with a duo of Sharpclaws just as they reached the shuttle, the first of the dinosaurs they'd seen in almost an hour, had left her with several streaks of red from stomach to neck, courtesy of a wickedly barbed club and very quick reflexes, so the tender attention from McCloud was more than welcome. "I'd forgotten how therapeutic a touch could be..."

"You and me both," Fox responded, dipping his hands into the pleasantly cool water to scoop some up, which he proceeded to drizzle onto her chest, over every inch of the pert hillocks of her breasts, to soften the dried blood streaked across them so he could groom it out. "We really need to do this more often..."

"Fine...by..._me_," Krystal sighed, feeling so relaxed and contented she was on the verge of dozing off in Fox's embrace. "Now, before I drift off and forget, can you focus on those orders you overheard?"

Fox nodded, closing his eyes, his hands falling still over the portions of breast they had been cleaning. Krystal let her mind expand outwards gradually, easing her way into her companion's, to find the memory she sought front, centre and in sharp focus.

"Very impressive," she smiled, slipping into it, emerging on the ridge above Thorntail Hollow, looking down on the Sharpclaw meeting.

"A good memory has its uses in my job."

"I can imagine. Right, he's saying... 'C3 has been spotted in Cape Claw, all Thorntail troops to relocate there and begin searching. Capture, don't kill. Repeat, capture, don't kill.'" Her eyes snapped open, and her head twisted sharply round to stare in shock and excitement at Fox. "There's someone else here..."

Fox nodded, a light sparkling in his eyes. "We have _got_ to try and meet up with them, if the Sharpclaws haven't gotten them already."

"Plenty of hiding places around the Cape, and no shortage of ways out, either. Problem is we have no way of knowing where...unless we try to get one of those projection devices the Sharpclaws are using..."

"Listen in." Fox nodded. "I doubt they'll give one up willingly, though. We'll just have to keep an eye out for a decent opportunity."

"All right." She let her eyelids roll smoothly shut once more, and her hands settled over Fox's, clasping them a little closer to her breasts. "Enough with the talk for now, though. I just want to luxuriate in feelings I haven't had for years..."

"What feelings?" Fox asked, in a murmur, nuzzling and kissing her cheek, slowly working his way to and along her muzzle.

"Mmm... Peace... Contentment... _Bliss_..." Lips met lips, drifting into a slow, caressing dance...until Krystal drew back. "Let me show you a little something..."

"Okay." McCloud shut his eyes, resting his forehead against hers, enjoying the warm and gentle tingling sensation that always accompanied their mental melding.

'This is the last time I felt like I do now,' Krystal's voice had softened to a mellifluous murmur, the warmest of breezes drifting through his mind. 'This is the last time I felt like I had a place in the world...'

_Colours bloomed all around Fox, rich pastel hues of yellow, and blue, and green, a scene as idyllic as any he could imagine painting itself gracefully into being. Soft sand, tumbles of warm rocks, wind-tousled seas, vivid blue sky, and fur as green as grass after the rain. His mind's eye gazed through those of a Krystal several years younger, a lithe and sylphlike flower in the midst of unfurling, sitting against a tide-smoothed stone on an unspoilt, deserted, sun-caressed beach. In her arms rested another young vulpine girl, curves and laughter and mischief and sparkling green eyes, their fingers entwined with one another amid the velvet pelt of her budding chest. Lips gravitated to lips, toying, brushing, teasing, until muzzles parted, gliding over one another, sinking into a kiss so deep and warm and heartfelt it almost overwhelmed him..._

And then he was back behind the waterfall, golden-orange fur mingling with blue, body pressing so close to body they almost blended into one another, his heartbeat singing in time with hers, his eyes losing themselves completely in the entrancing blue moonpools before them. Muzzles stroked one another with whispering tenderness, kissed fur and skin and lips with endless warmth, closed tightly over one another so deeply and fully and lovingly that nothing else existed any more...

Nothing but orange-gold and blue...


End file.
